THE 


MOUNT  VEEKOB  PAPERS. 


BY 


EDWAED  EVEEETT, 


NEW  YORK: 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY, 

443    &   445   BROADWAY. 
LONDON:    16  LITTLE  BRITAIN. 

M.DCCC.LX. 


ENTEEED,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  I860, 

BY  D.   APPLETON    &   CO., 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 
District  of  New  York. 


£45 


PREFACE. 


The  following  correspondence  sufficiently  explains 
the  origin  of  the  "  Mount  Vernon  Papers,"  and  will 
serve  as  an  appropriate  introduction  to  the  present 
volume.  ^ 

LEDGEII  OFFICE,  NEW  YOKE,  September  2,  1858. 

DEAK  SIR  : — I  have  a  proposition  of  a  somewhat  peculiar  nature 
to  make  to  you :  For  the  purchase  of  the  Mount  Vernon  property 
you  have  done  more  than  any  other  man,  or,  I  might  say,  than  all 
other  men.  To  your  eloquent  appeal  in  its  behalf  is  pre-eminently 
due  the  credit  of  the  progress  already  made  in  that  noble  work, 
and  the  favor  with  which  the  subject  is  universally  received  by 
our  people  from  one  extremity  of  the  land  to  the  other.  The  heart 
of  the  public  has  naturally  warmed  towards  you,  on  account  of 
your  well-timed  and  well-directed  efforts  to  rescue  the  tomb  of  the 
Father  of  our  country  from  neglect  and  dilapidation. 

Knowing  that  you  have  been  no  less  distinguished  in  literature 
than  in  official  life,  it  has  occurred  to  me  that  it  might  be  as  agree 
able  to  you  to  aid  the  patriotic  and  benevolent  enterprise  which 
you  have  undertaken,  by  contributions  to  the  columns  of  a  weekly 
paper  of  unprecedented  circulation,  as  by  a  public  address.  I  have 
accordingly  to  propose  that,  if  you  will  furnish  to  the  NEW  YOEK 
LEDGER  one  original  article  a  week,  for  one  year,  I  will,  immediately 


IV  PREFACE. 

on  receiving  your  assent  to  this  proposition,  place  at  your  disposal, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  Mount  Yernon  Association,  my  check  for  the 
sum  of  Ten  Thousand  Dollars. 

I  am  aware,  sir,  that  you  are  not  in  the  habit  of  contributing  to 
the  columns  of  any  periodical,  and  that  you  are  fortunately  so 
situated,  financially,  that  no  pecuniary  reward  offered  to  you  for 
your  own  personal  benefit,  would  induce  you  to  deviate  from  your 
usual  course ;  but  your  disinterested  devotion  to,  and  the  deep 
interest  you  have  taken  in,  the  noble  work  to  which  I  have  referred, 
leads  me  to  hope  that,  for  the  sake  of  aiding  it,  you  may  accept  ray 
proposition. 

Very  respectfully, 

EGBERT  BOOTER, 
Proprietor  of  the  New  York  Ledger. 
HON.  EDWARD  EVEEETT. 

BOSTON,  6  November,  1858. 

DEAE  SIE — Your  letter  of  the  2d  of  September  was  placed  in 
my  hands  on  the  14th  of  that  month.  In  consideration  of  your 
check  for  ten  thousand  dollars  to  be  placed  at  my  disposal  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Mount  Yernon  Association,  on  the  receipt  of  my 
letter  accepting  the  offer,  you  propose  to  me  to  furnish  an  original 
article  weekly  for  the  "  NEW  YORK  LEDGEE  "  for  one  year. 

This  liberal  offer  has  received  my  thoughtful  consideration.  I 
have  been  and  am  strongly  tempted,  on  the  one  hand,  to  make  this 
noble  addition  to  the  Mount  Yernon  Fund.  On  the  other  hand, 
among  other  grounds  of  hesitation,  I  have  been  afraid  that  I  could 
not  do  justice  to  your  liberality,  without  giving  up  more  time  to 
the  preparation  of  the  articles,  than  is  consistent  with  other 
engagements  and  duties. 

You  are  right  in  supposing  that  no  pecuniary  benefit  accruing 
to  myself  would  induce  me  to  undertake  the  task ;  although  the 
"  financial  situation  "  to  which  you  allude  is  far  less  brilliant  than 


PREFACE.  V 

you  may  have  been  led  to  think  by  exaggerated  newspaper  reports. 
I  feel,  however,  that  it  is  my  duty  not  to  forego  this  opportunity 
of  adding  so  large  a  sum,  at  once,  to  the  Mount  Vernon  fund,  and 
I  accept  the  offer.  I  will  begin  to  furnish  the  articles,  as  soon  as 
the  immediate  demands  upon  my  time  to  fulfil  some  previous 
engagements,  shall  cease, — in  the  course  of  this  month  at  furthest, 
— and  I  will  continue  them  as  far  as  possible  weekly,  making  up 
at  the  end  of  the  year  for  any  omission  in  the  regular  supply. 

They  will,  I  hope,  be  received  by  you  and  the  Public,  with  the 
indulgence  usually  extended  to  gratuitous  labors  in  a  meritorious 
cause. 

I  shall  venture  to  call  the  articles  thus  furnished  by  me  "  The 
Mount  Yernon  Papers,"  scarcely  daring  to  assume  that  honored 
name,  which  however  may  perhaps  be  permitted,  as  appropriately 
indicating  the  object  for  which  they  are  prepared,  and  so  excusing 
their  imperfections. 

I  remain,  Dear  Sir,  respectfully  yours, 

EDWARD  EVERETT. 

PvOBEET  BONNEE,  ESQ. 

These  papers   are  reprinted   in  the  present  form, 
with  no  other  change  than  a  few  verbal  corrections. 

D.  APPLETON  &  Co. 

NEW  YOBK,  April,  1860. 


CONTENTS. 


NUMBER  ONE. 

Reason  for  assuming  the  name  of  "  Mount  Vernon  Papers" — Intended  character  of 
the  subjects  treated — Objects  of  the  Ladies1  Mount  Vernon  Association — Present 
state  of  Mount  Vernon  described  in  the  introduction  to  Mr.  Everett's  address  as 
delivered  at  New  York — This  description  not  made  by  way  of  reproach  to  the 
present  proprietor — Necessity  created  by  the  crowd  of  visitors  and  the  vandalism 
of  some  of  them  of  selling  the  property — The  purchase  could  only  be  made  by 
private  speculators— By  Congress  or  the  Legislature  of  Virginia— Or  a  patriotic 
association  duly  authorized  to  hold  and  manage  the  property,  and  the  last  mode 
in  some  respects  the  best — A  feat  of  Ledgerdemain  proposed  in  aid  of  the  pur 
chase.  .  1 


NUMBER  TWO. 

CHRISTMAS. 

Christmas  day  simultaneously  celebrated  in  the  Catholic  and  Protestant  church — 
Not  recognized  by  the  Puritans,  and  why — Had  degenerated  into  a  disorderly 
Festival— Lord  of  Misrule—Extravagant  revels  in  the  sixteenth  century— Mince 
pie  and  plum  porridge — Baron  of  beef— Superstitions  in  the  "West  of  England  rel 
ative  to  cattle — Anecdotes  of  the  reformation  of  the  calendar — Lord  Chesterfield 
and  Lord  Macclesfield— Milton's  beautiful  ode  to  the  nativity— Sir  Walter  Scott- 
Mr.  Irving's  charming  description  of  the  manner  in  which  Christmas  is  celebrated 
in  England  at  the  present  day.  ...  .  .11 

NUMBER  THREE. 

THE   HOUSE   OF  FRANKLIN. 

Demolition  of  the  house  of  Franklin  in  Boston— Why  necessary— Crooked  and  nar 
row  Streets  of  Boston  and  their  origin— Great  inconvenience  from  this  cause  and 
necessity  of  widening  the  Streets — Union  Street  widened  and  the  house  at  the 
corner  of  Union  and  Hanover  Streets,  in  which  Franklin  lived,  necessaril)- 
removed— Description  of  the  house  and  of  its  changes — Reasons  against  removing 
it  to  another  place— All  the  original  portions  of  it  preserved.  .  .  21 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

NUMBER  FOUR. 

A  SAFE   ANSWER. 

Eeubcn  Mitchell's  education— Becomes  a  partner  in  business  with  his  master— Mar 
ries  his  daughter — Succeeds  to  the  inheritance  and  business  of  his  Father-in-law — 
Invests  the  profits  of  his  business  in  real  estate — Gradually  purchases  a  large 
number  of  farms,  many  of  which  are  unproductive — The  number  of  his  farms 
known  only  to  himself— Curiosity  of  friends  and  the  community  on  that  subject 
— It  becomes  a  topic  of  public  remark — Measures  adopted  to  solve  the  mystery — 
And  the  result.  .........  82 

NUMBER  FIVE. 

THE   COMET. 

Visit  to  the  Observatory  at  Cambridge  on  the  6th  of  October — Description  of  the 
evening — Position  of  the  Comet  and  its  appearance  through  the  Comet-seeker — 
Drawings  by  Mr.  George  P.  Bond  and  Mr.  Fette— Appearance  of  the  Comet 
through  the  great  refractor— Professor  Lovering's  experiments  with  the  Polari- 
scope— The  Cluster  in  the  Constellation  Hercules— Eemarks  of  Professor  Nichol 
• — The  Penny  Cyclopaedia — History  of  Donati's  Comet— Its  period — Its  rapid  devel 
opment — Progress  of  Astronomy  in  the  United  States — Kemark  of  Gibbon — 
Comets  no  longer  subjects  of  alarm— Beautiful  reflections  of  Addison— Apostrophe 
to  the  Comet.  .  .  .  .  .  .  . ...  42 

NUMBER  SIX. 

AN  INCURSION   INTO   THE   EMPIRE   STATE. 
PAET  I. 

Extra  clothing  prepared  for  the  journey  and  the  result — Sandwiches  as  compared  with 
a  hasty  dinner  at  an  inn — Sixty  cents  saved  and  proposed  investment  for  it — Six 
hours  comfortably  spent  at  Albany — Sleeping  cars  and  the  excellence  of  their 
arrangements— Unexpected  obstacle  to  the  enjoyment  of  their  full  benefit — Arri 
val  at  Canandaigua — The  great  land  purchase  of  Gorham  and  Phelps.  .  53 

NUMBER  SEVEN. 

AN   INCURSION   INTO   THE   EMPIRE   STATE. 


Unpromising  weather  at  Canandaigua— History  of  the  settlement— Oliver  Phelps— 
Anecdote  of  Judge  Gorham— Visit  to  Rochester— Eeserved  seats— Astonishing 
progress  of  the  settlement — Return  to  Auburn — Change  in  the  weather — From 
Auburn  to  Syracuse  and  detention  there— Sleeping  cars  from  Syracuse  to  Albany 
—Wakeful  fellow-passengers— Collision  at  Albany— Kind-hearted  Conductors- 
Return  home.  .......  62 


CONTENTS.  IX 


NUMBER  EIGHT. 

THE   PARABLE   AGAINST   PERSECUTION. 

First  published  by  Lord  Kames  in  1774  as  having  been  communicated  to  him  by  Dr. 
Franklin — Soon  discovered  in  Jeremy  Taylor's  Liberty  of  Prophesying — Next 
found  in  the  dedication  to  the  Senate  of  Hamburg  of  the  Latin  translation  by 
George  Genz  of  a  Tlabbinical  work — Afterwards  traced  to  the  "  Flower-Garden11 
of  the  celebrated  Persian  poet  Saadi— Some  account  of  Saadi— Possibly  still  to  be 
found  in  some  Jewish  writer — Defence  of  Dr.  Franklin  against  the  charge  of  pla 
giarism — Quoted  by  Sydney  Smith  before  the  Mayor  and  Corporation  of  Bristol 
in  1829— The  parable  given  entire  from  Dr.  Franklin's  works.  .  72 

NUMBER  NINE. 

WASHINGTON'S  DIARY. — ROBERTSON'S  MINIATURES  OF  GENERAL  AND  MRS.  WASH 
INGTON. 

A  portion  of  General  "Washington's  Diary  the  property  of  Mr.  J.  Carson  Brevoort— 
Eecently  printed  for  private  circulation — Illness  of  Washington  in  the  summer 
of  1789— Tour  in  the  East  partly  to  recruit  his  health— A  considerable  portion  of 
the  Diary  relates  to  this  tour — Washington  consults  his  friends  as  to  the  expedien 
cy  of  the  tour — Their  opinion — Anecdote  of  Henry  IY.  of  France,  and  his  ministers 
Villeroi,  Sully,  and  Jeannin — Robertson's  miniature  of  Gen.  Washington  forms  tho 
vignette  to  this  edition  of  the  Diary — Account  of  Bobertson — And  his  likenesses  of 
General  and  Mrs.  Washington— Colonel  Trumbull's  opinion— Photographic  copies 
— Pine's  portrait  of  Washington  in  Mr.  Brevoort's  possession — Gen.  Washington's 
letter  about  it — An  original  letter  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington  in  reply  to  a  request 
to  sit  for  his  portrait  to  Mr.  Inman.  ......  81 

NUMBER  TEN. 
WASHINGTON'S  DIARY. 

PAET  II. 

Commencement  of  his  tour  to  the  Eastern  States  in  1789 — First  day's  journey  to  Eye — 
Description  of  the  road — The  three  different  visits  of  Washington  to  this  part  of 
the  country — Second  day's  journey  to  Fairfield  and  description  of  the  road — Third 
day's  journey  to  New  Haven  through  Stratford  and  Milford — Description  of  New 
Haven — Sunday  passed  at  New  Haven — Fourth  day's  journey  to  Hartford 
through  Wallingford  and  Middletown  and  incidents  by  the  way — Fifth  <lay's  jour 
ney  to  Springfield  and  description  of  that  place — Sixth  day's  journey  to  Spencer- 
Express  received  at  Brookfield  from  Governor  Hancock — Seventh  day's  journey 
to  Worcester  and  arrangements  for  entering  Boston — Eighth  day's  journey  to 
Weston — Arrival  at  Boston  on  the  ninth  travelling  day  from  New  York.  89 

NUMBER  ELEVEN. 

LOUIS  NAPOLEON. — THREE   PHASES   IN   HIS   LIFE. 

The  Downfall  of  Napoleon  the  First— His  escape  from  Elba  in  1815— His  second  fall 
and  retirement  of  his  family  at  Rome— Louis  Napoleon  a  boy  at  his  father's  table 


CONTENTS. 

— after  a  lapse  of  twenty-one  years  on  trial  for  his  life  at  Paris — His  appearance 
and  demeanor — His  imprisonment  at  Ham — The  revolution  of  February,  1848,  and 
downfall  of  Louis  Philippe — Ke-appearance  of  Louis  Napoleon  as  deputy,  Prince, 
President,  and  Emperor — General  character  of  his  administration — Unscrupulous 
violence  of  the  party  press  under  Louis  Philippe — His  government  overturned  by 
leaders  who  aspired  only  to  supplant  his  ministers — The  Press  of  the  United 
States.  93 


NUMBER  TWELVE. 
WASHINGTON'S  DIARY. 

"Washington's  entrance  into  Boston  involved,  to  some  extent,  a  question  of  State  rights 
— Major  Busst'll's  account  inexact — General  Washington's  own  account — Gov. 
Hancock  abandons  his  ground  and  calls  first  on  the  President — Termination  of  the 
affair— Oratorio— Dinner  at  Fanueil  Hall— The  President  requested  to  sit  for 
his  portrait — Postponement  of  the  music  at  the  Oratorio — Duck  Manufactory 
described— Card  Manufactory— Visit  to  the  French  vessels  of  War— Depar 
ture  from  Boston  and  continuation  of  the  journey — Letter  to  Mr.  Taft  at  Ux- 
bridge.  ..........  106 

NUMBER  THIRTEEN. 

ABBOTSFORD   VISITED   AND   REVISITED. 
PART  I. 

Invitation  to  Abbotsford — Arrival  at  Melrose — Kuins  of  Melroso  hastily  visited — 
Walk  to  Abbotsford— And  reception  there— Church  at  Selkirk— Walk  to  the 
Mushroom  Park — Dogs  in  company,  who  accidentally  start  a  hare — The  house  and 
grounds — Ornaments  of  the  rooms — Reading  of  the  Heart  of  Mid  Lothian — Visit 
to  Melrose — Manner  of  passing  the  time  at  Abbotsford— Charles  Scott — Departure 
for  Selkirk,  but  the  London  Mail  Coach  being  full,  return  to  Abbotsford — Sir 
Walter's  fondness  for  animals,  dogs  and  cats — Piper  at  dinner.  .  .  115 


NUMBER  FOURTEEN. 

THE   FOURTH  OF   MARCH,  1789. 

Commencement  of  the  present  United  States  Government  in  New  York  seventy 
years  ago  this  day — Sketch  of  the  History  of  the  promulgation  and  ratification  of 
the  Constitution— Delay  in  organizing  the  new  Congress — Arrival  of  Washington 
at  New  York  and  his  inauguration — Question  as  to  the  titles  to  be  given  to  the 
President  and  Vice  President — Amusing  anecdote — Causes  of  the  prevailing  apa 
thy — The  general  languor  of  the  country  a  circumstance  favorable  to  a  peaceful 
revolution— No  such  revolution  possible  in  highly  prosperous  times — Much  owing 
to  the  disinterested  patriotism  of  the  revolutionary  and  constitutional  leaders  and 
especially  Washington — Closing  reflection.  .....  124 


CONTENTS. 
NUMBER  FIFTEEN. 

ABBOTSFORD   VISITED   AND    REVISITED. 


The  family  of  Sir  "Walter  Scott  in  ISIS— His  mode  of  life  and  study— Playful  names 
given  his  daughters — A  visitor  recognized  by  the  print  of  his  horse's  shoe  before 
he  was  seen — Gratitude  more  affecting  than  ingratitude — German  studies — Jesting 
anecdotes  at  table — A  walk  of  a  mile  on  your  own  land — Natural  features  of  Ab- 
botsford — Departure — Personal  appearance  of  Sir  Walter— Conversation — Opinions 
as  to  the  authorship  of  the  "Waverley  novels — Pecuniary  embarrassments — Sad 
changes  in  the  family — Yisit  to  Abbotsford  in  1844 — Border  Scenery — Otterburn, 
Jedborough — Remains  of  Dryburgh  Abbey — Tomb  of  Sir  Walter  Scott — Mclrose 
Abbey— Changes  at  Abbotsford— The  Poems  and  Novels  of  Sir  Walter  Scott.  135 

NUMBER  SIXTEEN. 

THE  COURT  OF  FRANCE  IN  1818. 

Impressions  of  the  French  revolution  derived  from  Burke — Presentation  at  court  in 
France  in  1818 — Court  dress  and  diplomatic  uniform — Mr.  Gallatin  and  the  ambas 
sadors'  reception — Appearance  of  Louis  XVIII. — Duchess  d'Angouleme — Duke 
d'Angouleme— The  Count  d'Artois,  afterwards  Charles  X.— The  Duke  de  Berri 
and  the  Duchess — Fortitude  of  the  Duchess  when  her  husband  was  assassinated, 
and  her  heroic  conduct  in  1832 — Concealed  at  Nantes  behind  the  back  of  a  fire 
place  for  fifteen  hours— The  King  and  Count  d'Artois  as  described  by  Burke— 
The  fortunes  of  the  Duchess  de  Berri.  .....  145 

NUMBER  SEVENTEEN. 
LORD  ERSKINE'S  TESTIMONY  TO  WASHINGTON. 

Lord  Erskine  said  by  Lord  Campbell  to  have  saved  the  liberties  of  his  country — His 
testimony  to  Washington — Sketch  of  his  life — The  Earl  of  Buchan — Narrow  cir 
cumstances  of  the  family — Enters  the  navy— Original  anecdote  of  his  surveying 
the  coast  of  Florida — Passes  from  the  navy  to  the  army — Commences  the  study 
of  the  law — Brilliant  debut  in  the  Greenwich  Hospital  case — His  own  account  of 
the  manner  in  which  he  came  to  be  retained  in  that  case — Extract  from  the 
pamphlet  sent  by  him  to  General  Washington — His  tribute  to  Washington  on  the 
blank  leaf.  .........  155 

NUMBER  EIGHTEEN. 

THE   FINANCIAL   DISTRESS   OF   THE   YEAR   1857. 


An  inquiry  into  the  causes  of  the  distress  of  the  year  185T  proposed — Difficulty  of 
the  investigation — The  facts  of  the  case  stated — And  the  extent  of  the  distress 
briefly  described— The  general  paralysis  of  business  and  credit— What  could 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

have  produced  it,  in  the  absence  of  all  the  usual  causes  of  public  distress  ?— 
Its  probable  cause  to  be  found  in  DEBT — An  estimate  of  the  personal  debt  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States— Its  annual  interest  ninety  millions  of  dollars— The 
business  debt  is  vastly  greater— The  Corporate  debt— The  Bank  debt  and  the 
elements  of  which  it  is  composed— Banks  create  no  additional  capital— By  sudden 
contraction  of  credit  in  times  of  pressure  produce  or  increase  the  panic.  163 


NUMBER  NINETEEN. 

THE   FINANCIAL    DISTRESS   OF  THE   TEAK   1857. 


The  view  taken  in  the  preceding  paper  best  explains  the  periodical  recurrence  of  a 
financial  crisis— Origin  of  the  term  Panic— Its  connection  with  seasons  of  pressure 
and  distress— The  only  remedy  is  to  keep  out  of  debt— The  abuses  of  credit  the 
chief  cause  of  great  commercial  revulsions— Long  credits  deprecated  by  distin 
guished  financial  authorities — The  agency  of  banks  in  the  dangerous  extension  of 
credit— Doubtful  utility  of  a  paper  currency— Individual  prudence  must  furnish 
the  main  protection — The  soundness  of  these  views  confirmed  by  the  manner  in 
which  the  country  is  returning  to  a  state  of  prosperity.  .  .  .  -173 


NUMBER  TWENTY. 

TRAVELLING   IN   FORMER  TIMES. 

First  visit  to  New  York  by  packet  from  Newport  in  1810 — Exodus  from  Dorchester 
to  Connecticut  River  in  1635,  in  fourteen  days— Madam  Knight's  j  ourney  to  New 
York  in  1704— Extracts— Franklin's  voyage  to  New  York  in  1723— Abandons 
vegetable  diet  by  the  way — Franklin's  reasons  in  1754  for  recommending  Phila 
delphia  as  the  seat  of  a  provincial  Union — Anecdote  of  General  Adair  and 
General  Root — Rapid  journey  of  Cardinal  Wolsey  from  Richmond  to  Bruges  and 
back — Washington's  first  journey  to  the  Eastern  States  in  1756 — Travelling  by 
stage  coach  fifty  years  ago — "  "Waking  up  the  wrong  passenger" — Indifferent 
accommodations  both  for  passengers  and  baggage — Anecdote  of  a  German  travel 
ler — This  mode  of  travelling  sometimes  very  pleasant.  .  .  .  1S3 

NUMBER  TWENTY-ONE. 

TRAVEL   IN   EUROPE. 

No  Railroads  or  Steamers  in  Europe  in  1818— Fulton's  first  passage  to  Albany- 
Stage-coaches,  posting,  and  vetturino  in  Europe — Travelling  on  foot  and  on 
horseback— The  ancient  Roman  roads  almost  wholly  lost— Visit  to  the  Conti 
nent  in  1818— Guide  books— Hon.  T.  H.  Perkins  and  tribute  to  him  by  John 
Quincy  Adams— Stone  Henge— Wilton  House— Old  Sarum— Salisbury  Cathedral- 
Passage  from  Southampton  to  Havre— Freedom  from  care  at  sea— Transition 
from  England  to  France  and  points  of  contrast— French  custom-house— Anecdote 
of  a  dyspeptic  Bostonian.  .....  193 


CONTENTS.  Xili 

NUMBER  TWENTY-TWO. 

HAVRE   AND    ROUEN. 

The  importance  of  Havre  owing  to  its  position  at  the  month  of  the  Seine  and  tho 
American  trade — St.  Pierre — Conflict  of  races  in  Normandy — Lillebonne— 
The  council-hall  of  William  the  Conqueror  swept  away  by  a  cotton  spinner — 
Detention  at  Kouen— Ugo  Foscolo— Thomas  Moore— Beranger— Society  at  Paris 
in  1817-1818— Importance  of  Kouen— The  Cathedral— Heart  of  Eichard  Cceur 
de  Lion — Church  of  Saint  Ouen — William  the  Conqueror  could  not  write  his 
name— Deserted  at  his  death— Place  de  la  Pucelle,  where  Joan  of  Arc  was 
burned — Eeflections  on  her  fate — Her  statue  by  the  Princess  Marie,  daughter  of 
Louis  Philippe — Yoltaire,  Schiller — Corneille — Regrets  that  he  had  not  chosen  the 
Maid  of  Orleans  for  a  heroine — Overturn  of  the  diligence.  .  .  203 

NUMBER  TWENTY-THREE. 

WILL   THERE   BE   A   WAR   IN   EUROPE 

The  vast  importance  of  this  question — Comparative  strength  of  the  parties  in  a 
military  point  of  view — The  leaders  described,  the  Austrian  Emperor  Francis 
Joseph,  the  King  of  Sardinia  Victor  Emmanuel  II.,  the  Emperor  of  the  French — 
The  German  Confederation  in  its  relations  to  the  contest — Hungary  and  tho 
possibility  of  a  new  revolution — The  general  spirit  of  disaffection  in  Italy  and  tho 
strength  which  it  lends  to  Sardinia  as  the  champion  of  Italian  nationality — Quali 
fied  in  practice  by  the  hostile  feelings  of  the  Italian  States  toward  each  other.  213 

NUMBER  TWENTY-FOUR. 

ANOTHER  VOLUME   OF   WASHINGTON'S  DIARY. 

Another  portion  of  Washington's  Diary  in  the  possession  of  J.  K.  Marshall,  Esq.— 
Description  of  the  manuscript  and  its  contents— Circumspection  of  Washington 
in  receiving  foreigners — General  appropriation  bill  for  1790 — Tour  on  Long 
Island — Presents  to  foreign  ministers  on  taking  leave — Chasms  in  the  Diary — Tho 
President  starts  on  a  Southern  tour— In  great  danger  in  crossing  from  the  Eastern 
shore  of  Maryland  to  Annapolis— Reception  there— Continues  his  journey  to 
Georgetown — Conference  with  the  proprietors  of  the  lands  on  which  the  city  of 
Washington  was  to  be  erected — They  agree  to  a  cession  of  lands  for  public  pur 
poses — District  of  Columbia ;  Alexandria  retroceded  to  Virginia — Description  of 
the  city  of  Washington. 221 

NUMBER  TWENTY-FIVE. 

WASHINGTON'S  SOUTHERN  TOUR. 

Washington's  Southern  tour  in  1791  less  known  than  his  Eastern  tour  in  1789 — De 
parture  from  Mount  Vernon  7th  of  April — Accident  in  crossing  the  ferry  at  Col 
chester — Fredericksburgh — Richmond — Locks  in  the  James  River  Canal — State 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

of  public  opinion  in  Virginia  on  the  assumption  of  the  State  debts  and  the  Excise 
law — Pete rsburgh  and  the  President's  account  of  it — Innocent  artifice  to  escape 
an  escort — Halifax,  N.  Carolina — No  stabling  at  Allen's — Arrival  at  Newbern  and 
description  of  that  place — Its  present  condition  and  appearance — Arrival  at  Wil 
mington  and  account  of  that  place— The  mode  of  taking  the  first  census  described 
by  Washington — Present  condition  of  Wilmington — Eecent  visit  of  the  writer  to 
North  Carolina— Its  general  prosperity— Raleigh— Chapel  Hill.  .  .  230 


NUMBER  TWENTY-SIX. 
WASHINGTON'S  SOUTHERN  TOUR  CONCLUDED. 

Departure  from  Wilmington— The  Swash  crossed— Arrival  at  Georgetown,  S.  C.— 
Capt.  Alston's  plantation — Description  of  Georgetown — Arrival  at  Charleston  and 
reception  and  festivities  there — Description  of  Charleston — No  mention  of  cotton 
among  the  exports — Journey  resumed  on  the  9th  of  May — Mrs.  Gen.  Green — Arri 
val  at  Savannah — Military  operations  in  1779 — Savannah  described — Eoad  through 
Waynesborough  to  Augusta — Eeception  at  Augusta — Description  of  that  place — 
Eeturn  to  the  North  by  the  Avay  of  Columbia,  Camden,  Charlotte,  Salisbury,  and 
Salem.  240 


NUMBER  TWENTY-SEVEN. 
ADAMS'  EXPRESS  AND  THE  EXPRESS  SYSTEM  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Scene  at  Embarcation  at  New  York  for  Charleston— Quantity  of  packages  put  on 
board  by  Adams'  Express — The  Expressage  not  to  be  confounded  with  commercial 
transportation— Miscellaneous  nature  of  articles  transported  by  Express — Connec 
tion  of  the  Express  with  the  periodical  press — Want  of  all  facilities  for  the  convey 
ance  of  small  parcels  in  former  times— Sketch  of  the  Origin  and  progress  of  the 
Express  System — Wm.  F.  Harnden — Alvin  Adams — His  associates — And  succes 
sors — Present  state  of  Adams'  Express  and  extent  of  its  operations — Importance 
of  the  Express  system  compared  with  commercial  exchanges — Comparison  of  the 
Express  with  the  Post-office — Origin  and  functions  of  the  Post-office — Growing 
importance  of  the  Express.  .......  248 

NUMBER  TWENTY-EIGHT. 

AT   PARIS,  IN   1818. 

The  fete  of  St.  Louis— His  name  in  the  United  States— The  festivities  of  the  day 
contrasted  with  those  usual  in  this  country — A  Mat  de  Cocagne  described — Prepa 
rations  for  departure — Gen.  Lyman — Eelations  with  Coray,  the  celebrated  modern 
Greek  scholar  and  patriot — Brief  account  of  his  life  and  services — Transmits  to 
this  country  the  Address  to  the  People  of  the  United  States  of  the  Messcnian 
Senate  at  Calarnata — Its  effects  here — Contributions  for  the  relief  of  the  Greeks 
distributed  by  Dr.  Howe — Death  and  autobiography  of  Coray.  .  .  258 


CONTENTS.  XV 

NUMBER  TWENTY-NINE. 

THE   ILLUSTRIOUS   DEAD   OF   1859 — PRESCOTT,  BOND,  HALLAM,  VOX   HUMBOLDT. 

The  value  of  their  example  to  young  men— Traits  of  Mr.  Prescott's  character,  which 
are  within  the  reach  of  imitation  by  others— William  Cranch  Bond  the  Astrono 
mer—Remarkable  variety  and  union  of  qualities,  scientific  and  practical— His 
amiable  temper  and  disposition— His  enthusiasm  for  Astronomy— Liberal  appreci 
ation  of  others — Visit  of  Jenny  Lind  to  the  Cambridge  Observatory — Succeeded 
in  the  Observatory  at  Cambridge  by  his  son  George  P.  Bond — Scientific  reputation 
of  Mr.  Bond,  Jnr 26S 

NUMBER  THIRTY. 

THE   ILLUSTRIOUS   DEAD   OF   1859 — PRESCOTT,  BOND,  HALLAM,  VON   HUMBOLDT. 

Simultaneous  death  of  Hallam  and  Prescott— Hallam  the  first  standard  writer  of 
history  in  England  after  Hume,  Gibbon,  and  Eobertson— Compared  with  those 
writers— Brief  account  of  the  History  of  Europe  in  the  middle  ages— Of  the 
Constitutional  history  of  England — Of  the  introduction  to  the  Literature  of  Europe 
for  the  fifteenth,  sixteenth,  and  seventeenth  centuries — Personal  History — Loss 
of  his  two  sons— Henry  counsels  his  father  not  to  accept  the  title  of  Baronet — 
Eeceives  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  from  Harvard  College— Letter 
of  acknowledgment.  ........  276 

NUMBER  THIRTY-ONE. 

THE   ILLUSTRIOUS   DEAD   OF   1859 — PRESCOTT,  BOND,  HALLAM,  VON  HUMBOLDT. 

The  year  1769  famous  for  the  birth  of  great  men— The  memory  of  Humboldt  asso 
ciated  with  America — His  unsuccessful  plans  before  coming  to  this  continent — His 
great  reputation  founded  on  his  American  works — His  place  at  the  head  of  the  men 
of  science  of  the  day — Great  age  to  which  his  literary  labors  were  protracted — 
Accustomed  to  sleep  but  four  hours  in  the  twenty -four — His  social  disposition — 
Acquaintance  of  the  writer  with  Mr.  von  Humboldt  in  1818 — His  liberal  appreci 
ation  of  others— Sits  to  Mr.  "Wight  of  Boston  for  his  portrait— Ecmarks  on  the 
assertion  that  he  was  an  Atheist.  .  .  ...  284 

NUMBER  THIRTY-TWO. 

,    ITALIAN   NATIONALITY. 

Eeasons  of  State  and  Public  opinion  mingled  in  the  present  struggle — Growth  of 
liberal  views  in  Italy — How  far  the  feelings  of  the  masses  will  affect  the  result  of 
the  contest — The  different  views  of  the  different  parties — Elements  of  nationality 
possessed  by  the  Italians — A  compact  geographical  position — A  fusion  of  the 
original  races — One  language — A  common  faith — In  all  these  respects  their  claim 
to  an  independent  nationality  equal  to  that  of  any  of  the  great  powers  of  Europe 
— To  what  is  the  want  of  it  owing  ? — By  no  means  to  the  degeneracy  of  tho 
population.  *>v--~r  ;  .......  293 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

NUMBER  THIRTY-THREE. 

ITALIAN   NATIONALITY. 

It  has  failed  to  exist  for  want  of  a  comprehensive  patriotic  sentiment — Difficulties  in 
the  way  of  the  formation  of  such  a  sentiment  arising  from  the  multiplication  of 
local  governments — Benefits  and  evils  of  this  multiplication — Probable  consequen 
ces  of  the  present  struggle — Will  not  result  in  a  republican  confederacy — Nor 
probably  in  the  immediate  establishment  of  an  Italian  monarchy — But  may  pre 
pare  the  way  for  such  an  event  in  future — Lessons  to  be  drawn  from  Italian 
history — All  other  circumstances  favorable  to  an  Independent  nationality  una 
vailing  without  a  comprehensive  patriotism.  ....  302 

NUMBER  THIRTY-FOUR. 

THE   LIGHT-HOUSE. 

The  greatest  dangers  of  the  sea  are  in  nearing  the  land— To  obviate  some  of  these 
light-houses  have  been  erected— The  Colossus  of  Ehodes— The  Pharos  of  Alexan 
dria — Great  improvements  in  modern  times— Fresnel — Feelings  in  contemplating 
a  light-house — The  Fitzmaurice  light — Number  of  light-houses  in  England, 
France,  and  the  United  States — Dangers  sometimes  of  their  multiplication — Anec 
dote  of  a  narrow  escape— Minot's  Ledge  described— Destruction  of  the  iron 
screw-pile  light-house  in  April,  1851 — The  violence  of  the  gale  described — A  new 
light-house  of  solid  masonry  in  progress  of  erection  under  Capt.  Alexander — 
Progress  of  the  work— An  eclipsing  light  a  beautiful  object— Via  Crucis,  via 
Lucis 810 

NUMBER  THIRTY-FIVE. 

PRINCE   METTERNICH. 

Should  he  be  classed  with  the  Illustrious  dead  of  1S59  ?— His  success  civil  not  mili 
tary — Not  cruel  nor  bloodthirsty — His  government  mild  for  an  absolute  despo 
tism — Is  Lombardy  an  exception  ? — Anecdote  of  Silvio  Pellico  and  the  other 
conductors  of  the  Conciliatore — Metternich's  first  service  at  the  Congress  of 
Eastadt — The  four  coalitions — His  conduct  as  the  Austrian  minister  in  France — 
Anecdote  from  Capefigue  of  doubtful  authenticity — Was  he  the  projector  of  the 
marriage  of  Napoleon  I.  with  Marie  Louise  ? — Eules  Austria  in  peace  for  thirty- 
three  years — Sinks  at  last  in  1848 — His  exile,  return,  and  the  close  of  his  career 
as  a  private  man.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  318 

NUMBER  THIRTY-SIX. 

SEVEN   CRITICAL   OCCASIONS   AND   INCIDENTS   IN   THE   LIFE   OF   WASHINGTON. 

Instances  of  an  overruling  Providence  in  the  lives  of  distinguished  men,  and  signally 
in  the  life  of  Washington — His  brother  Lawrence  an  officer  in  the  expedition  un 
der  Admiral  Vernon  against  Carthagena— Plan  for  placing  George  in  the  British 


CONTENTS.  XV11 

Navy,  and  a  midshipman's  warrant  procured — His  mother  opposes  the  plan,  and 
it  is  abandoned— Accompanies  his  brother  to  Barbadoes  at  the  age  of -nineteen  and 
takes  the  small-pox— Terrific  nature  of  that  disease  before  the  discovery  of  Vac 
cination—Appears  in  the  American  Army  in  1775  and  afterwards— Great  dangers 
to  which  Washington  was  exposed  on  his  mission  to  Yenango— Hazards  of  an  ex 
cursion  at  that  time  in  the  districts  occupied  by  the  Indians — Their  cruelties — 
Narrow  escape  of  Washington  on  the  return — Concluding  reflection.  .  827 


NUMBER  THIRTY- SEVEN. 

SEVEN   CRITICAL   OCCASIONS  AND  INCIDENTS  IN  THE  LIFE   OF  WASHINGTON. 

Braddock's  expedition  in  1755 — Washington  a  volunteer  aid— Falls  ill  on  the  way 
and  sent  back  to  the  reserve — Joins  the  army  the  day  before  the  engagement — 
Beautiful  scene  of  war  on  the  morning  of  the  battle — Surprise  and  total  defeat  of 
General  Braddock's  army—Gallant  conduct  of  Colonel  Washington  throughout 
the  engagement — Great  danger  to  which  he  was  exposed — Interview  with  an  In 
dian  Chieftain  on  the  Kanawha  in  1770— Prediction  in  1755  of  his  future  career— 
Eeflection  by  Mr.  Sparks— Washington's  visit  to  New  York  in  1756,  where  he  is 
the  guest  of  Beverley  Eobinson— Makes  the  acquaintance  of  Mary  Philipse — She 
marries  Captain  Orme  and  adheres  with  her  family  to  the  royal  cause.  335 

NUMBER  THIRTY-EIGHT. 

SEVERAL  CRITICAL   OCCASIONS  AND  INCIDENTS  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  WASHINGTON. 

Washington  desires  in  early  life  a  commission  in  the  Eoyal  Army— Exclusion  of  Col 
onists  from  promotion  in  the  Koyal  establishments— His  taste  for  military  life— 
His  distinguished  services  in  the  seven  years'  war  attract  no  notice  "  at  home  " — 
At  its  close,  having  no  hope  of  advancement,  he  retires  from  military  life — After 
an  interval  of  seventeen  years,  re-appears  commander-in-chief  of  the  armies  of 
United  America — At  the  battle  of  Princeton,  Washington,  in  his  own  opinion,  ran 
the  greatest  risk  of  his  life,  being  between  the  fire  of  both  parties— Colonel  Trum- 
bull's  picture — Eeputation  acquired  by  Washington  abroad  by  the  surprise  of  the 
Hessians  and  the  battle  at  Princeton — Testimony  of  the  historian  Botta.  843 

NUMBER  THIRTY-NINE. 

FONTAINEBLEAU,  BURGUNDY,  AUTUN,  TALLEYRAND. 

Leave  Paris  en  route  for  Italy — Passports— Couriers — Fontaineblcau  and  its  histori 
cal  recollections — Appearance  of  a  wine-growing  region — The  Cote  d'or — Autun, 
its  antiquity  and  architectural  remains — Epigram  about  the  two  Bishops  of  Au 
tun— Character  of  Talleyrand— His  emigration  to  America,  and  intention  to  be 
come  a  citizen  of  the  United  States— Anecdote  of  Benedict  Arnold— Talleyrand's 
course  in  this  country — His  friendship  for  General  Hamilton — Curious  anecdote 
of  Aaron  Burr,  related  by  Talleyrand— Miniature  of  General  Hamilton— Talley 
rand's  character  as  a  statesman — The  Duke  of  Magenta  born  at  Autun — Another 
anecdote  of  Benedict  Arnold.  .  .  ., .;  .  •  S52 


XV111  CONTENTS. 


NUMBER  FORTY. 


Hotel  de  TEurope  at  Lyons— The  hill  of  Fourvieres— Description  of  the  Panorama 
seen  from  its  top — Distant  view  of  Mont  Blanc — Pilgrimages  to  the  shrine  of  our 
Lady  of  Fourvieres— Eesort  of  beggars  and  almsgiving  on  the  part  of  the  Pil 
grims — Anecdote  of  a  professed  Scottish  beggar — The  bronze  tablets  containing  the 
speech  of  the  Emperor  Claudius — Martyrdom  of  Saint  Irenseus  and  Blandina — The 
Persecutions  of  the  early  Christians  as  recorded  in  ecclesiastical  history  com 
pared  with  the  cruelties  practised  at  Lyons  in  the  French  revolution. — Whole 
sale  massacre  in  the  Brotteaux — Escape  and  career  of  Jacquard,  the  inventor  of 
the  celebrated  loom  that  bears  his  name — saying  of  Napoleon  I.  about  him — His 
epitaph 3d 

NUMBER  FORTY-ONE. 

FROM   LYONS   TO    GENEVA. 

Silk  fabrics  of  Lyons — First  glimpse  of  mountain  scenery — Nantua — Bcllegarde — In 
genious  smuggling — Pert  du  Ehone — Cassar's  description  of  the  defile — Ancient 
Switzerland  compared  to  Michigan  and  Wisconsin — First  appearance  of  the  Hel- 
vetii  or  ancient  Swiss  in  history — Emigration  of  the  entire  people  into  France — 
Overtaken  and  defeated  with  great  loss  by  Ca?sar,  and  the  survivors  compelled 
to  return  to  Switzerland — A  muster-roll  in  Greek  characters  discovered  in  their 
camp  which  gives  their  numbers — Caesar's  great  career  begins  with  the  conquest 
of  the  Helvetii — beautiful  prospects  on  the  way  from  Fort  TEcluse  to  Geneva.  370 


NUMBER  FORTY-TWO. 

EXCURSION   FROM    GENEVA   TO    CHAMOUNI,  MONT   BLANC. 

The  various  attraction*  in  Geneva — The  influence  of  Calvin — The  road  to  Chamouni 
up  the  valley  of  the  Arve — Eemarkable  scene  beyond  Bonneville — Nant  d'Ar- 
pennaz — First  view  of  Mont  Blanc— Goitres,  whether  considered  a  beauty  by  the 
peasantry — Lac  de  Chede — Servoz — The  Upper  Arve — Entrance  into  the  valley  of 
Chamouni — The  glaciers— Description  of  a  glacier— Their  motion — Investigation 
of  the  cause  by  Professor  Agassiz — The  valley  of  Chamouni  first  made  known  to 
the  travelling  world  by  Pococke  and  Windham  in  1741 — Alpine  scenery  less  fre 
quently  described  by  the  poets  than  might  have  been  expected.  379 


NUMBER  FORTY-THREE. 

THE  MOXTANVERT,  THE  SEA  OF  ICE,  AND  THE  GREEN  GARDEN. 

Excursion  to  the  Jardin  Vert — Ascent  to  the  Montanvert — Prospect  from  it — Solita 
ry  cabin — Beautiful  midnight  scene — Crossing  the  Mer  de  Glace,  crevasses — 
Dangerous  pass  along  the  face  of  the  mountain — Beach  the  Jardin — Sublimity  of 
the  scene— Keturn  to  the  Montanvert— Descent  to  the  lower  end  of  the  Mer  do 


CONTENTS.  XIX 

Glace  and  the  source  of  the  Arveiron — Geological  significance  of  the  recent  in» 
quiries  into  the  formation  and  movement  of  the  Glaciers— Importance  of  these 
todies  in  the  economy  of  nature.  ......  889 

NUMBER  FORTY-FOUR. 

GENEVA,  FERNET,  LAUSANNE. 

Rousseau's  h  iuse — His  manuscripts — Partial  insanity  the  best  apology  for  his  con 
duct—Voltaire's  Chateau  at  Ferney— Description  of  his  room  and  list  of  portraits 
in  it— Other  memorials — Contrast  of  Ferney  as  it  was  during  Voltaire's  life-time 
and  its  present  appearance — His  life  and  works  an  entire  failure — Coppet  and 
Madame  de  Stael — Gouverneur  Morris — Lausanne — Gibbon's  house — its  appear 
ance  in  1818— Summer-house  in  the  garden,  where  he  was  accustomed  to  study — 
Last  lines  of  the  Decline  and  Fall  written  there — Hume's  striking  remark  in 
1767,  on  the  stability  and  duration  of  the  English  language,  in  consequence  of  its 
prevalence  in  America.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  397 

NUMBER  FORTY-FIVE. 

FROM   LAUSANNE   TO   FREYBURG. 

General  Laharpe,  the  instructor  of  the  Emperor  Alexander — Origin  of  the  Holy  Al 
liance—Schools  at  Lausanne  and  the  neighborhood— Scenery— Eoad  to  Vevay— 
Vineyards — Church  of  St.  Martin  at  Vevay — General  Ludlow's  monument — Fate 
of  the  regicides— Scenery  at  Vevay— Clarens— Chillon— Its  dungeons— Burke's 
judgment  of  Eousseau's  writings— Moudon— Payerne— Bertha's  saddle— Freyburg 
— Local  description — The  ancient  Linden — Strange  bas-relief  at  the  cathedral — 
Point  of  junction  of  the  French  and  German  languages — Suspension  bridge.  407 

NUMBER  FORTY-SIX. 


From  Freyburg  to  Berne— Change  of  costume— Appearance  of  the  city— Lofty 
parapet  wall  and  extraordinary  leap  from  it— Alpine  scenery— The  Bear  the 
heraldic  emblem  of  Berne,  and  living  bears  kept  at  the  public  expense— The 
University — Manufactures  of  Berne,  the  Messrs.  Schenck — Visit  to  the  establish 
ments  of  M.  Von  Fellenberg  at  Hofwyl — Anecdote  of  the  director  Eeubcl — High 
School— Industry  School — The  celebrated  assistant  teacher  "Wehrli — Agricultural 
School — M.  Von  Fcllenberg's  establishments,  formerly  an  object  of  great  attention 
in  Europe.  .........  41G 

NUMBER  FORTY-SEVEN. 

THE   NINETEENTH   OF   APRIL,  1775. 

Materials  for  the  Eomance  of  our  history  scattered  through  the  country— Events  of 
the  19th  April,  1775 — Alarm  given  from  Boston  to  the  neighboring  towns — Es 
cape  of  Adams  and  Hancock  from  Lexington  to  "Woburn— A  salmon  left  behind 


XX  CONTENTS. 

and  sent  for— Second  retreat  to  the  woods— Capture  of  a  prisoner  by  Sylvanus 
Wood  on  the  19th  of  April— After  thirty  years  Wood  applies  for  and  obtains  a 
pension — Visits  Washington  and  is  introduced  to  General  Jackson — Proposed 
National  monument  at  Lexington  commemorative  of  the  19th  of  April.  425 


NUMBER  FORTY-EIGHT. 

PROM     BERNE     TO     SACHSELN. 

The  Aar  and  its  valley— Thun,  its  environs  and  lake— Unterseen— The  Lauterbrun- 
nen  and  Staubbach — A  glimpse  of  the  Swiss  peasantry — Curious  misprint  in 
Goldsmith's  Traveller — The  Lake  of  Brienz — The  Giesbach — The  musical  school 
master  and  his  family — The  pass  of  the  Brunig — Entrance  into  Unterwalden — 
Lungern  and  its  lake — Partially  drained — Sachseln — St.  Nicholas  von  der  Flue — 
Legends  concerning  him.  .......  435 

NUMBER  FORTY-NINE. 

STANZ,     LUCERNE,     TELL. 

Sarnen,  proposed  drainage  of  the  lake — The  Landenberg — Schiller's  Wilhelm  Tell 
and  birthday— Commotion  in  Unterwalden  in  1818— Type  of  Swiss  houses— Ar 
nold  von  Winkelried — Eesistance  to  the  French  in  179S — Atrocities  described  by 
Alison — The  attack  on  Stanzstade  commanded  by  General  Foy — His  character- 
Lake  of  the  Four  Cantons— Lucerne— General  Pfyffer's  model  of  Switzerland — 
Thorwaldsen's  lion— Kussnacht  one  of  Gessler's  strongholds— Is  the  history  of 
Tell  authentic  ? — The  story  of  the  Apple  said  to  be  found  in  the  Danish  sagas — 
Does  this  prove  Tell  a  myth  ? — The  hollow  way.  ....  444 

NUMBER  FIFTY. 

GOLDAU,  ALOYS   REDING,  GRUTLI,  THE   TELLENSPRUNG. 

The  lake  of  Zug— The  destruction  of  Goldau— Mr.  Buckminster's  description  of  it- 
Account  of  it  by  Dr.  Zay  of  Arth,  an  eye-witness — Schwytz— Its  early  history — 
Events  of  1798 — Character  and  conduct  of  Aloys  Eeding — Brunnen — Passage  to 
Altorf— Grutli — The  three  founders  of  Swiss  Independence — The  Tellensprung — 
Enthusiasm  of  Sir  James  Mackintosh— The  Legends  of  the  Apple-shooting.  453 


NUMBER  FIFTY-ONE. 

ALTORP,  THE  VALLEY  OP  THE  REUSS,  THE  VALAIS. 

The  Canton  of  Uri— The  traditions  of  Tell— Valley  of  the  Eeuss— Wildness  of  the 
scene— The  Devil's  bridge —The  army  of  Suwarrow  in  1799— Andermatt— Head 
waters  of  the  Ticino — Short  Alpine  summer — Passage  of  the  Furca — Glacier  of 
the  Ehonc— Tho  Valais— the  Brieg— The  Simplou  road— Farewell  to  Switzer 
land.  462 


CONTENTS.  XXI 

NUMBER  FIFTY-TWO. 

DANIEL   BOON. 

The  "  West "  suggestive  of  important  subjects  of  thought— Progress  of  settlement  in 
South  and  North  America — Conditions  of  life  on  the  gradually  receding  frontier 
— Sergeant  Plympton's  fate  in  1677 — Daniel  Boon  the  great  Pioneer — His  life  by 
Mr.  "W.  H.  Bogart — Account  of  his  family,  parentage,  and  birth — Eemoval  to 
North  Carolina  and  settlement  on  the  Yadkin — Marries  Eebecca  Bryan — Mission 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  in  America — Boon  with  five  companions  starts  in  quest 
of  Kentucky  in  1769— First  sight  of— Captured  by  the  Indians— Escape— Meets 
his  brother  Squire— Squire  Boon's  return  to  the  settlement  for  supplies— They 
both  go  back  to  North  Carolina,  and  Daniel  determines  on  a  permanent  removal 
to  Kentucky. 471 

NUMBER  FIFTY-THREE, 

AND     THE     LAST     OF     THE     SERIES. 
THE  NEW   YOEK  LEDGER. 

Description  of  the  Ledger  establishment — Common  printing — The  power  press — The 
Electrotype  process — Press  work — Distribution  of  the  paper — Eighty  thousand 
by  mail — Ross  &  Tousey's  news  agency — "  Ledger  day  "  described — Immense 
amount  of  Printing  annually  done  in  the  "  Ledger  "  office— Convention  for  inter 
national  copyright— Mode  in  which  the  establishment  has  been  built  up  and 
general  character  and  objects — The  "  Unknown  Public  " — Conclusion  of  the 
Mount  Vernon  Papers.  .......  480 


THE 

MOUNT  VERNON"  PAPERS, 


NUMBEK    ONE. 

Beason  for  assuming  the  name  of  "  Mount  Yernon  Papers" — Intended  character  of 
the  subjects  treated — Objects  of  the  Ladies'  Mount  Vernon  Association — Present 
state  of  Mount  Vernon  described  in  the  introduction  to  Mr.  Everett's  address  as 
delivered  at  New  York — This  description  not  made  by  way  of  reproach  to  the 
present  proprietor — Necessity  created  by  the  crowd  of  visitors  and  the  vandalism 
of  some  of  them  of  selling  the  property — The  purchase  could  only  be  made  by 
private  speculators — By  Congress  or  the  Legislature  of  Yirginia — Or  a  patriotic 
association  duly  authorized  to  hold  and  manage  the  property,  and  the  last  mode 
in  some  respects  the  best — A  feat  of  Ledgerdemain  proposed  in  aid  of  the  pur 
chase. 

I  HAVE  already  stated  in  my  letter  of  the  6th  of  November 
to  the  Editor  and  Proprietor  of  the  "  LEDGER,"  that  I  have 
ventured  to  call  these  articles  the  "  Mount  Vernon  Papers," 
as  a  name  appropriately  indicating  the  object  for  which  they 
are  prepared,  and  in  that  way  suggesting  an  excuse  for  their 
imperfections.  As  they  will  generally  be  written  under  the 
pressure  of  other  engagements  and  duties,  the  considerate 
reader  will  not  expect  to  find  in  them  that  elaboration  and 
finish,  which  he  has  a  right  to  demand  in  compositions  prepared 
at  the  leisure  of  their  authors.  I  can  only  endeavor  to  do 
the  best  in  my  power,  under  the  well  known  circumstances  of 
the  case,  and  candid  persons  will  judge  them  accordingly. 

But  though  called  the  "  Mount  Vernon  Papers,"  it  is  not 
1 


2  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

intended  that  these  articles  should  be  exclusively  or  even 
chiefly  taken  up  in  discussing  the  subject  of  the  purchase  of 
Mount  Vernon,  or  the  topics  connected  or  associated  with  it. 
They  will  indeed  furnish  an  appropriate  channel,  for  whatever 
information  of  an  interesting  character  I  may  be  able  to  offer 
the  public  on  that  subject.  It  was  one  of  the  chief  induce 
ments  for  undertaking  their  preparation,  that  they  would  afford 
me  an  opportunity  for  the  attempt  to  interest  a  very  large 
circle  of  readers,  in  an  enterprise  which  I  have  so  much  at 
heart.  I  shall  accordingly  submit  to  them,  from  time  to  time, 
an  account  of  the  progress  and  prospects  of  the  work,  as  far 
as  they  fall  under  my  observation.  Besides  this,  the  country 
abounds  with  recollections  and  traditions  of  Washington  con 
nected  with  his  civil  and  military  career  ;  with  localities  ren 
dered  interesting  by  his  battles,  his  visits,  or  his  sojourn  ;  and 
with  individuals  still  living  who  saw  him,  and  of  whom  a  few 
were  personally  known  to  him.  There  are  many  original 
portraits  of  him  in  existence,  of  which  a  few  remain  to  be 
described  ;  numerous  autographic  letters  as  yet  unpublished  ; 
and  personal  relics  of  every  description.  Many  of  these  tra 
ditions  and  objects  of  interest  are  constantly  brought  to  my 
notice,  in  visiting  different  parts  of  the  country,  for  the  purpose 
of  repeating  my  address  on  the  character  of  Washington,  and, 
if  I  do  not  mistake,  will  furnish  interesting  materials  for  a  few 
of  these  papers.  It  is  intended,  however,  that  they  shall,  upon 
the  whole,  be  of  a  miscellaneous  character,  and  exhibit  as  much 
variety  in  the  subjects  treated,  as  can  be  expected  from  the 
productions  of  one  pen. 

A  general  statement  of  the  object,  in  aid  of  which  they  are 
to  be  prepared,  would  seem  to  be  a  proper  commencement  of 
the  series,  and  this  I  shall  venture  to  give  in  a  few  paragraphs, 
which  formed  the  introduction  to  my  address  as  delivered  (for 
the  one  hundred  and  first  time)  on  the  12th  of  November,  1858, 
in  New  York,  at  the  request  of  the  managers  of  the  Ladies' 
Mount  Vernon  Association. 


THE    MOUNT   VEJ2NO1T   PAPERS.  3 

"  It  is  with  unaffected  diffidence  that  I  present  myself  for  a  third 
time  before  a  New  York  audience,  to  repeat  the  address  which  you  expect 
from  me  this  evening.  I  do  it  at  the  urgent  request  of  those  whose  wish 
is  a  command,  and  who  are  devoting  themselves  with  such  admirable 
zeal  and  energy  to  one  of  the  most  praiseworthy  enterprises  that  can 
appeal  to  the  patriotic  heart.  The  women  of  the  country,  and  nowhere 
more  earnestly  than  in  the  City  and  State  of  New  York,  have  undertaken 
the  noble  work,  neglected  by  Congress,  not  performed  by  Virginia,  of 
rescuing  the  dwelling-place  and  the  last  resting-place  of  Washington 
from  those  chances  and  vicissitudes,  and  in  this  case  I  must  add  those 
desecrations,  to  which,  as  private  property,  they  are  necessarily  exposed, 
and  of  placing  them  under  the  protection  and  guardianship  of  a  per 
manent  institution  co-extensive  with  the  Republic. 

"  For  such,  I  am  happy  to  say,  and  not  less  comprehensive,  is  the 
character  of  the  Ladies'  Mount  Vernon  Association  of  the  Union.  It 
was  called  into  existence  by  the  persevering  and  self-sacrificing  efforts 
of  a  devoted  daughter  of  South  Carolina.  It  has,  as  was  most  fitting, 
received  a  charter  of  incorporation  from  the  ancient  Commonwealth, 
which  boasts  the  incommunicable  honor  of  having  given  birth  to  the 
Father  of  his  Country.  It  is  organized  in  branches  established  or  to  be 
established  in  every  member  of  the  Confederacy  ;  and  it  has  enlisted  the 
energetic  co-operation  of  some  of  the  most  excellent  aud  patriotic  wo 
men  of  your  own  and  every  other  State  in  the  Union.  Much  has  already 
been  done,  but  much  remains  to  be  accomplished.  A  formal  agreement 
for  the  purchase  of  Mount  Yernon  was  entered  into  last  spring  with  its 
proprietor,  by  the  government  of  the  Association,  and  a  considerable 
sum  of  money — eighteen  thousand  dollars — was  paid  down  to  ratify  the 
bargain.  The  means  are  on  hand  to  meet  the  payment  of  the  next  in 
stalment  ;  but  an  ample  fund  is  of  course  wanting,  to  consummate  the 
purchase  ;  to  restore  the  mansion  and  the  grounds  from  their  present 
state  of  melancholy  neglect  and  decay,  as  far  as  possible,  to  their  origi 
nal  condition,  and  to  make  adequate  provision  for  their  permanent  con 
servation  and  care.  Such,  in  a  general  statement,  are  the  objects  to  be 
accomplished  and  the  present  state  of  the  enterprise. 

"  No  one,  I  am  sure,  who  has  visited  the  venerable  spot ;  who  has 
looked  upon  the  weather-beaten  building  and  its  uninviting  approaches ; 
upon  the  falling  columns  and  corroded  pavement  of  the  portico  ;  the 
ruinous  offices  ;  the  unfloored  summer-house  ;  the  conservatory,  of  which 
a  portion  remains  as  it  was  left  by  the  fire  of  1832;  the 

'  spot  whore  once  a  garden  smiled ; 


And  still  where  many  a  garden  flower  grows  wild ; ' 


4:  THE  MOUNT  VEEN  ON  PAPERS. 

the  grounds  relapsing  into  the  roughness  of  nature ;  and  above  all,  the 
raw  incompleteness,  the  irreverent  exposure,  and  the  premature  and  un 
tidy  decay  that  reign  about  the  tomb,  but  must  bid  God-speed  to  the 
efforts  of  these  noble  women  and  their  worthy  sisters,  in  every  part  of 
the  land,  who  have  determined  that  this  public  scandal,  this  burning 
shame,  shall  cease.  No  man  of  sensibility,  who  has  contemplated  the 
dismal  spectacle  of  Mount  Vernon  in  its  present  condition,  but  must 
wish  success,  and  must  feel  it  his  duty  to  give  his  own  co-operation  to 
the  effort  that  is  now  making,  to  redeem  and  enclose  the  hallowed  and 
beautiful  spot,  (for  a  lovelier  eminence  does  not,  in  all  the  land,  look 
down  upon  a  nobler  river  ;)  to  bring  it  back,  as  far  as  may  be,  to  its 
original  order  and  comeliness ;  to  clothe  its  neglected  slopes  with  the 
familiar  but  never-wearying  charm  of  grass  and  trees ;  to  re-open  the 
overgrown  paths,  once  pressed  by  feet  which  consecrated  the  soil  on 
which  they  trod ;  to  renew  the  departed  beauty  of  the  garden  and  the 
conservatory  which  still  contains  plants  that  received  the  foster 
ing  care  of  Washington ;  to  revive  upon  the  denuded  hill-sides  the 
prostrate  honors  of  the  forest,  and  to  watch  over  the  preservation  of 
some  veterans  of  the  soil,  planted  by  the  strong  hand  which  grasped 
and  guided  the  helm  of  State  in  the  fiercest  storms  of  policy  or  war ;  to 
replace  the  mansion  in  that  condition  of  neatness  and  simple  beauty, 
in  which  it  so  admirably  reflected  the  well-compacted  and  harmoniously 
adjusted  character  of  its  great  Inmate  ;  there  to  form  a  collection  of  all  the 
personal  relics  and  memorials  of  him,  which  can  be  recovered  from 
every  part  of  the  country ;  and  above  all,  beneath  the  shadow  of  ma 
jestic  trees,  within  the  sound  of  flowing  waters,  and  under  the  shelter  of 
monumental  walls,  to  enshrine  the  sacred  ashes  of  the  First  of  Men,  in  a 
mausoleum  worthy  of  its  deposit. 

"  To  provide  the  means  of  effecting  these  objects,  the  women  of 
America  have  determined  to  make  their  direct  appeal  to  the  heart  of  the 
country.  They  do  not  believe  that  it  is  the  wish  of  the  people  that  a 
state  of  things  so  unworthy  and  discreditable  should  continue  to  exist. 
It  is  in  humble  co-operation  with  them  in  the  effort  to  put  an  end  to  it, 
that  I  appear  before  you  this  evening ;  not  surely  to  argue  the  merito 
rious  character  of  the  undertaking,  for  that  would  be  an  insult  alike  to 
your  understandings  and  your  patriotic  feelings,  but  to  aid  you  in  calling 
up  the  revered  image  of  Washington,  and  to  give  some  new  distinctness 
to  your  recollections  of  those  illustrious  traits  of  character  and  those  in 
estimable  services  which  have  given  him  the  first  place  in  the  hearts  of 
his  countrymen,  and  have  made  the  spot  where  he  lived  and  where  his 
ashes  repose,  dear  and  sacred  to  the  end  of  time." 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  5 

The  foregoing  allusions  to  the  present  condition  of  Mount 
Vernon  are  not  made  in  the  spirit  of  reproach  to  the  present 
proprietor.  It  can  rarely  be  proper  to  make  the  conduct  of 
private  citizens,  and  the  manner  in  which  they  manage  their 
affairs,  the  subject  of  public  comment.  So  long  as  they  keep 
within  the  bounds  of  morality  and  the  law,  belong  to  the  same 
sect  and  party  with  ourselves,  vote  for  the  same  candidates, 
use  the  same  dictionary,  read  the  same  newspaper,  and  take 
off  their  hats  to  the  ground  when  we  pass,  (for  if  they  fail  in 
any  of  these  things,  there  is  nothing  too  bad  to  say  or  print 
of  them,)  they  ought  not  to  be  interfered  with.  I  am  not 
aware  of  any  thing  which  ought  to  deprive  the  proprietor  of 
Mount  Vernon  of  the  benefit  of  this  principle,  certainly  not  as 
far  as  I  am  concerned,  indebted  as  I  am  to  him  and  his  amia 
ble  family  for  a  most  friendly  and  hospitable  reception. 

It  could  never,  I  think,  have  been  a  productive  property, 
nor  one  capable  of  being  kept  in  high  condition,  without  a 
considerable  annual  outlay.  It  descended  to  the  present  pro 
prietor,  if  I  am  not  misinformed, — for  I  do  not  derive  the 
impression  from  him, — in  a  neglected  state.  Supposing  it 
true  that  he  has  shown  himself  not  duly  sensible  to  the  inter 
esting  character  of  the  spot,  it  does  not,  I  think,  lie  with  his 
fellow-citizens  to  reproach  him.  It  will  be  time  enough  to  do 
so,  when,  either  by  the  acts  of  their  public  representatives,  or 
any  more  informal  demonstration,  they  shall  themselves  have 
manifested  a  sincere  and  effective  interest  in  the  care  and  pre 
servation  of  Mount  Vernon.  While  it  remains  a  fact  that 
nothing  has  been  done  by  the  leaders  of  public  opinion  in  or 
out  of  Congress,  or  by  any  general  popular  movement,  for  its 
protection,  it  is  unfair  to  reproach  Mr.  Washington  for  a  sup 
posed  neglect  of  it.  Considered  merely  as  a  patrimonial  farm, 
he  surely  has  a  right  to  take  care  of  it  or  neglect  it  at  his 
pleasure.  Considered  in  its  great  national  and  patriotic  asso 
ciations,  it  will  be  time  enough  for  the  Public  to  rebuke  him 
when  the  Public  has  done  its  own  duty. 


6  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEKS. 

But  leaving  reproaches  aside,  which  seldom  do  much  good 
to  masses  of  men  or  to  individuals,  and  are  in  general  liberally 
dealt  out  by  those  who  have  little  else  to  deal  in,  all  persons 
must  admit,  that  the  state  of  things  at  present  existing  at  Mount 
Vernon  ought  to  cease.  Nominally  private  property,  and  be 
longing  to  a  private  individual,  the  Public  in.  effect  lays  claim 
to  it,  takes  possession  of  it,  occupies  it,  or  at  least  overruns 
it.  Visitors  of  every  kind  and  in  vast  numbers,  tourists  and 
pilgrims,  of  our  own  and  foreign  lands,  led  by  every  motive 
from  idle  curiosity  to  patriotic  feeling,  resort  to  Mount  Vernon 
in  the  pleasant  season  of  the  year,  and  more  or  less  at  all 
seasons.  They  wander  over  the  grounds  and  through  the 
house,  the  greater  part  of  them,  no  doubt,  conducting  them 
selves  with  the  decorum  which  belongs  to  the  place,  and  the 
civility  which  belongs  to  all  places.  But  in  addition  to  the 
civil  and  well-bred,  there  are  enough  of  an  opposite  descrip 
tion  to  inflict  serious  injury  on  the  grounds  and  the  house, 
and  to  cause  the  greatest  annoyance  to  its  inmates.  Their 
retirement  is  invaded  in  the  most  unseemly  and  distressing 
manner ;  articles  easily  removed  must  be  closely  watched,  to 
prevent  their  being  carried  off;  whatever  can  be  broken  or  cut 
is  liable  to  be  mutilated  and  defaced  within  doors,  and  the 
shrubbery  in  the  walks  and  grounds  is  appropriated  without 
scruple.  Three  or  four  of  the  pales  have  been  wrenched  from 
the  balustrade  of  the  front  staircase,  and  carried  away.  An 
attempt  was  made  last  year  to  break  the  glass  case  which 
contains  the  key  of  the  Bastile,  given  by  Lafayette  to  Washing 
ton,  and  to  purloin  this  remarkable  relic.  Most  of  the  small 
projecting  portions  of  the  wrought  marble  mantel-piece  pre 
sented  to  General  Washington  by  Samuel  Vaughan,  Esq.,  of 
London,  and  forming  the  ornament  of  the  fire-place  in  the 
dining-room,  have  been  ruthlessly  broken  off;  and  in  one  case, 
at  least,  young  magnolias  planted  in  the  grounds  have  been 
cut  down  by  tourists,  who  were,  as  may  be  supposed,  partic 
ular  as  to  the  quality  of  their  walking-sticks.  Were  the  for- 


THE  MOUNT  YEENON  PAPERS.  7 

tune  of  the  proprietor  such  as  would  enable  him  to  restore  a 
place  like  Mount  Vernon  from  the  effects  of  half  a  century  of 
neglect,  and  to  bring  it  into  a  state  of  ornamental  culture,  it 
is  plain  that  it  could  not  be  kept  in  that  condition  without  the 
additional  expense  (if  there  were  no  other  difficulty)  of  a 
number  of  watchmen  and  guards. 

It  is  quite  natural  that  the  People  should  wish  to  visit 
Mount  Vernon,  but  if  they  insist  on  doing  it  in  numbers  that 
put  to  flight  all  ideas  of  private  property,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  seclusion  which  makes  the  charm  of  rural  life,  they  ought 
to  be  willing  to  acquire  a  right  to  do  so.  They  ought  to  pos 
sess  themselves  legally  of  the  property,  and  not  insist  upon 
using  it  illegally.  They  not  only  ought  not  to  reproach  Mr. 
Washington  with  letting  it  go  to  decay,  while  they  are  them 
selves  tearing  it  to  pieces,  but  they  ought  not  to  permit  him 
to  be  burdened  with  a  nominal  possession,  unaccompanied  by 
any  genuine  enjoyment  of  his  property,  while  they  are  exer 
cising  upon  it  themselves  some  of  the  most  absolute  acts  of 
ownership 

I  know  of  but  three  ways  in  which  the  end  can  be  attained. 
An  individual  or  company  might  purchase  Mount  Vernon,  in 
order  to  throw  it  open  as  a  place  of  public  resort  and  recrea 
tion,  and  thus  make  it  the  subject  of  pecuniary  speculation. 
Offers  to  this  effect,  tempting  in  their  amount,  have  been  made 
to  the  present  proprietor,  and  are  regarded  by  his  friends  as  a 
justification  for  demanding  a  price  for  the  estate,  so  much 
beyond  its  value  for  any  ordinary  private  purpose.  They  urge 
that  a  gentleman  of  moderate  means,  actually  coerced  by  the 
Public  in  the  way  described,  into  selling  his  property,  has 
made  sacrifice  enough  to  patriotic  feeling,  in  refusing  the  lucra 
tive  offers  of  private  individuals,  who  might  put  the  estate  to 
an  unworthy  use  ;  and  that  a  farther  pecuniary  sacrifice  ought 
not,  in  justice  to  his  family,  to  be  expected  of  him,  in  the  price 
for  which  he  is  willing  to  cede  it  to  a  patriotic  association. 
However  this  may  be,  all  must  approve  the  motives  and  feel- 


8  THE  MOUNT  VEKXON  PAPERS. 

ings  which  have  induced  Mr.  Washington  (while  virtually 
compelled  to  part  with  the  estate)  to  refuse  to  sell  it  for  the 
purposes  alluded  to. 

Excluding  then  the  alienation  of  Mount  Vernon  for  the 
purposes  of  speculation,  there  is  no  way  in  which  the  Public 
can  turn  its  present  tumultuary,  violent,  and  illegal  occupation 
of  it  (the  character  of  which  is  not  essentially  altered  by  the 
consent  of  the  owner,  a  consent  only  in  name,  and  really 
extorted  by  the  duress  of  circumstances)  into  a  legal  and 
honest  possession,  but  by  the  fair  purchase  of  the  property. 
This  could  be,  or  could  have  been,  effected  either  by  Con 
gress  or  the  State  of  Virginia.  There  are  strong  reasons  in 
favor  of  either  course,  and  practical  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
both,  which  this  is  not  the  place  to  discuss.  Proposals  have 
occasionally  been  made  both  in  Congress  and  the  legislature 
of  Virginia  for  this  purpose,  but  without  success. 

Such  a  purchase  therefore  being  out  of  the  question,  the 
only  remaining  mode  by  which  the  Public  can  honestly  be 
come  possessed  of  it,  is  that  which  has  actually  been  resorted 
to,  and  is  now  in  progress  of  execution,  and  that  is,  the  pur 
chase  of  the  estate  by  a  voluntary  association  coextensive 
with  the  Union  ; — endowed  with  requisite  powers  to  hold  and 
manage  the  property  by  a  charter  of  incorporation  from  the 
State  of  Virginia,  (and  every  one,  I  think,  must  admit  that  the 
legislature  of  the  native  State  of  Washington,  and  the  State  in 
which  the  property  is  situated,  is  the  authority  from  which  a 
charter  could  most  appropriately  be  derived ;)  composed  of 
members  and  soliciting  contributions  from  every  part  of  the 
country.  It  is  true  that  this  mode  of  raising  the  funds  to  con 
summate  the  purchase  is  extremely  laborious  ; — that,  in  fact, 
is  the  only  great  difficulty  attending  it.  The  country  is  will 
ing, — desirous  to  effect  the  object.  The  five  hundred  thou 
sand  dollars,  required  to  fulfil  all  the  designs  of  the  association 
above  alluded  to,  could  be  raised  in  a  day,  by  the  cheerful  co 
operation  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  each  one  giving 


THE  MOUNT  YERNON  PAPERS.  9 

his  proportionate  mite  ;  but  to  arrange  the  machinery,  by 
which  so  large  an  amount  can  be  collected  throughout  a  coun 
try  so  vast  as  ours,  is  a  matter  of  difficulty  and  labor. 

It  is  really,  however,  as  it  seems  to  me,  the  best  way  to 
accomplish  the  object.  It  produces  a  more  direct  participa 
tion  of  the  People  in  the  result,  than  if  it  were  accomplished 
by  a  legislative  appropriation  ;  and  the  zeal  and  energy  with 
which  the  ladies  of  the  association,  alike  those  forming  part 
of  its  central  government,  and  those  who,  as  local  managers, 
have  united  with  them,  authorize  a  confident  expectation  of  com 
plete  success,  and  that  at  no  distant  day.  It  is  indeed  very  im 
portant  that  what  is  done  should  be  done  promptly,  for  Mr. 
Washington  has  engaged,  in  case  the  purchase  money  is  paid 
in  February  next,  to  remit  the  interest  due  upon  it  for  the 
current  year. 

I  venture,  in  conclusion,  to  make  a  proposal,  suggested  by 
the  munificence  of  the  proprietor  of  the  LEDGER,  in  paying  the 
generous  sum  of  Ten  thousand  dollars  to  the  Mount  Vernon 
Fund,  for  ths  preparation  of  these  papers ; — would  that  it 
were  in  my  power  to  make  them  more  worthy  of  his  liberality ! 
More  than  Three  Hundred  Thousand  copies  of  this  journal 
are  circulated  among  the  masses  of  the  People,  throughout 
the  length  and  the  breadth  of  the  land.  A  large  proportion 
of  the  copies  are  ordered  by  clubs,  and  are  read  in  families, 
and  I  am  told  that  it  is  not  an  extravagant  calculation,  that 
they  are  read  by  One  Million  of  the  People  of  the  United 
States,  each  one  of  whom  venerates  the  character  of  Washing 
ton,  and  would  gladly  co-operate  in  rescuing  his  dwelling  and 
his  tomb  from  neglect  and  decay.  If  this  is  a  sound  calcula 
tion,  the  contribution  of  half  a  dollar  each  by  the  readers  of 
the  LEDGER  would  at  once  accomplish  the  object ! 

I  have  hitherto  taken  no  part  in  collecting  funds  for  the 
purchase  of  Mount  Vernon,  in  any  other  way,  than  by  the 
repetition  of  my  address  on  the  character  of  Washington.  But 
I  shall  be  happy  to  aid  the  readers  of  the  LEDGER  to  give 


10  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

effect  to  the  above  suggestion,  by  receiving  any  sum  sent  to 
me  by  mail  or  otherwise  for  that  purpose,  returning  a  receipt 
to  the  Donor,  countersigned  by  the  Treasurer  of  the  Auxiliary 
Mount  Vernon  Fund.* 

*  The  result  of  this  suggestion  will  be  stated  in  the  Appendix  to  the 
present  volume. 


ISTUMBEK  TWO. 

CHRISTMAS. 

Christmas  day  simultaneously  celebrated  in  the  Catholic  and  Protestant  church- 
Not  recognized  by  the  Puritans,  and  why — Had  degenerated  into  a  disorderly 
Festival — Lord  of  Misrule — Extravagant  revels  in  the  sixteenth  century — Mince 
pie  and  plum  porridge — Baron  of  beef— Superstitions  in  the  West  of  England  rel 
ative  to  cattle— Anecdotes  of  the  reformation  of  the  calendar— Lord  Chesterfield 
and  Lord  Macclesfield— Milton's  beautiful  ode  to  the  nativity— Sir  Walter  Scott- 
Mr.  Irving's  charming  description  of  the  manner  in  which  Christmas  is  celebrated 
in  England  at  the  present  day. 

WE  have  reached  the  season  of  the  year  when, — with  a 
little  variation  as  to  the  precise  day,  growing  out  of  the 
difference  between  the  old  and  new  style, — Christians  of 
almost  every  name  commemorate  the  birthday  of  their  com 
mon  Master.  On  Christmas  day,  beginning  at  Jerusalem  in 
the  church  of  the  sepulchre  of  our  Lord,  the  Christmas  anthem 
has  travelled  with  the  star  that  stood  above  his  cradle,  from 
region  to  region,  from  communion  to  communion,  and  from 
tongue  to  tongue,  till  it  has  compassed  the  land  and  the  sea, 
and  returned  to  melt  away  upon  the  sides  of  Mount  Zion. 
By  the  feeble  remnants  of  the  ancient  Syrian  and  Armenian 
churches,  creeping  to  their  furtive  matins  amidst  the  unbe 
lieving  hosts  of  Islam,  in  the  mountains  of  Kurdistan  and 
Erzeroum  ;  within  the  venerable  cloisters,  which  have  braved 
the  storms  of  barbarism  and  war  for  fifteen  centuries  on  the 
reverend  peaks  of  Mount  Sinai ;  in  the  gorgeous  cathedrals 
of  Moscow  and  Vienna,  of  Madrid  and  Paris,  and  still  im 
perial  Rome ;  at  the  simpler  altars  of  the  Protestant  church 


THE  MOUNT  VEBNON  PAPERS. 

in  western  Europe  and  America ;  in  the  remote  missions  of 
our  own  continent,  of  the  Pacific  islands,  and  of  the  furthest 
East,  on  Saturday  last,  for  the  Catholic  and  Protestant 
churches,  the  song  of  the  angels  which  hailed  the  birth  of 
our  Lord  was  repeated  by  the  myriads  of  his  followers  all 
round  the  globe. 

The  twenty-fifth  of  December  is  celebrated  with  an  ap 
proach  to  unanimity,  by  the  Christian  world,  as  the  anniver 
sary  of  the  birthday  of  our  Saviour.  Our  Puritan  fathers  are 
almost  the  only  great  body  of  Christian  believers  who  did 
not  observe  it  as  a  holiday,  or  set  it  apart  for  special  religious 
services.  Not  finding  the  day  of  our  Saviour's  birth  specified 
in  the  sacred  text,  they  considered  this  festival  as  resting  upon 
no  firmer  foundation  that  the  other  feasts  and  fasts  and  saints' 
days,  which  they  regarded  in  the  aggregate  as  a  human  inven 
tion.  It  is  not  the  province  of  these  papers  to  discuss  theolog 
ical  questions,  but  it  is  highly  probable  that  if  Christmas  and 
Easter  had  been  the  only  days  of  this  kind  set  apart  for  ob 
servance,  their  traditionary  character  would  have  been  re 
spected  even  by  our  scrupulous  Puritan  ancestors.  As  it 
was,  their  objection  was  perhaps  rather  to  the  mode  in  which 
Christmas  was  kept  in  their  time,  and  still  more  to  the  man 
ner  in  which  it  was  kept  at  an  earlier  period,  than  to  the  ob 
servance  of  the  day  in  itself.  Milton's  inimitable  Christmas 
hymn  shows  us  that  there  was  at  least  one  of  those  who  paid 
little  respect  to  the  traditions  of  the  Eomish  or  the  Anglican 
church,  who  felt  in  all  its  significance  that 

"  This  is  the  month,  and  this  the  happy  morn." 

Among  the  reasons  which  led  the  Puritans  to  oppose  the 
observance  of  Christmas  was  no  doubt  the  fact,  that  it  had 
almost  lost  the  character  of  a  religious  festival,  even  of  a 
cheerful  and  joyous  character,  and  had  degenerated  into  a  day 
of  grotesque  and  not  seldom  licentious  revelry.  The  period 
from  Christmas  to  Twelfth  Night  resembled  the  Roman 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  13 

Saturnalia  so  closely,  before  the  Reformation,  and  to  some  ex 
tent  after  it,  that  it  has  been  usually  supposed  to  have  been 
celebrated  in  imitation  of  that  season.  For  these  twelve  days 
society  was  turned  topsy-turvy  ;  servant  and  master  changed 
places,  and  all  gave  themselves  up  to  antic  games,  coarse 
revelling,  and  licensed  dissipation.  An  old  Puritan  writer  on 
this  subject  (Prynne)  says  : — 

"  Our  Bacchannial  Christmasscs  and  New  Years  Tides  with  those 
Saturnalia  and  feasts  of  Janus,  we  shall  find  such  near  affinity  between 
them,  both  in  regard  of  time  (they  being  both  in  the  end  of  December 
and  on  the  first  of  January,)  and  in  their  manner  of  solemnizing,  (both 
of  them  being  spent  in  revelling,  epicurism,  wantonness,  idleness, 
dancing,  drinking,  stage  plays,  masques  and  carnal  pomp  and  jollity,) 
that  we  must  needs  conclude  the  one  to  be  the  very  ape  or  issue  of  the 
other.  Hence  Polydore  Virgil  affirms,  in  express  terms,  that  our 
Christmas  Lords  of  Misrule  (which  custom,  saith  he,  is  chiefly  observed 
in  England,)  together  with  dancing,  masques,  mummeries,  stage-plays, 
and  such  other  Christmas  disorder  now  in  use  with  Christians,  were 
derived  from  these  Roman  Saturnalia  and  other  Bacchanalian  festivals, 
which  (concludes  he)  should  cause  all  pious  Christians  eternally  to 
abominate  them." 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  many  of  the  sports  not  only  of 
Christmas  but  of  other  church  festivals  were  of  a  character  at 
once  so  coarse  and  absurd,  as  to  justify  in  no  small  degree  the 
hostility  of  the  Puritans.  Among  the  pageants  of  Christmas 
was  the  "  Lord  of  Misrule,"  a  mock  dignitary  invested,  while 
the  holidays  lasted,  with  a  sort  of  dictatorial  power.  The  na 
ture  of  his  office  may  be  inferred  from  his  name.  His  authori 
ty  was  recognized  in  all  the  great  houses,  beginning  with  the 
royal  residence.  "  In  the  feast  of  Christmas,  (says  the  chroni 
cler  Stowe,)  there  was  in  the  king's  house,  or  wherever  he 
lodged,  a  Lord  of  Misrule  or  Master  of  Merry  Disports,  and 
the  like  had  ye  in  the  house  of  every  nobleman  of  honor  or 
good  worship,  were  he  spiritual  or  temporal." 

It  is  related  of  the  great  Sir  Thomas  More  that  "  he  was 
by  his  father's  procurement,  received  into  the  house  of  the 


14:  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEKS. 

right  reverend,  wise,  and  learned  prelate,  Cardinal  Morton, 
where  (though  he  was  young  of  years,)  yet  would  he  at  Christ 
mas  tide  suddenly  sometimes  step  in  among  the  players,  and 
never  studying  for  the  matter,  make  a  part  of  his  own  there 
presently  among  them,  which  made  the  lookers  on  more  sport 
than  all  the  players  beside.  In  whose  wit  and  towardness  the 
Cardinal  much  delighting,  would  often  say  of  him  unto  the 
nobles  that  divers  times  dined  with  him,  '  This  child  here 
waiting  at  the  table,  whoever  shall  live  to  see  it,  will  prove  a 
marvelous  man.' " 

A  quaint  author,  writing  in  1585,  gives  a  minute  and 
scarcely  credible  account  of  the  extravagance  to  which  these 
strange  Christmas  revellings  were  sometimes  carried.  Al 
though  the  account  is  rather  long,  we  think  the  reader  will 
not  be  displeased  with  the  extract  of  a  considerable  portion 
of  it  :— 

"  First  all  the  wild  heads  of  the  parish,  converging  together,  choose 
them  a  grand  captain  of  mischief,  whom  they  ennoble  with  the  title  of 
Lord  of  Misrule,  and  him  they  crown  with  great  solemnity  and  adopt 
for  their  king.  This  king  appointed  chooseth  forth  twenty,  forty,  three 
score,  or  a  hundred  lusty  fellows  like  himself,  to  wait  upon  his  lordly 
majesty  and  to  guard  his  noble  person.  Then  every  one  of  these  his 
men  he  investeth  with  his  liveries  of  green,  yellow,  or  some  other  light 
wanton  color,  and  as  though  that  were  not  gaudy  enough,  they  bedeck 
themselves  with  scarfs,  ribbons  and  laces,  hanged  all  over  with  gold 
rings,  precious  stones,  and  other  jewels.  This  done  they  tie  about  either 
leg  twenty  or  forty  bells,  with  rich  handkerchiefs  in  their  hands,  and 
sometimes  laid  across  over  their  shoulders  or  necks,  borrowed  for  the 
most  part  of  their  pretty  Mopsies  and  loving  Bessies.  Thus  things  set  in 
order,  they  have  their  hobby  horses,  dragons,  and  other  antics,  together 
with  their  pipers  and  thundering  drummers,  to  strike  up  the  devil's  dance 
withal ;  then  march  these  heathen  company  toward  the  church  and  church 
yard,  their  pipers  piping,  drummers  thundering,  their  stumps  dancing, 
their  bells  jingling,  handkerchiefs  swinging  about  their  heads  like 
madmen,  their  hobby  horses  and  other  monsters  skirmishing  amongst 
the  throng ;  and  in  this  sort  they  go  to  a  church,  (though  the  minister  be 
at  prayer  or  preaching,}  dancing  or  swinging  their  handkerchiefs  over 
their  heads,  in  the  church,  like  devils  incarnate,  with  such  a  confused 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  15 

noise  that  no  man  can  hear  his  own  voice.  Then  the  foolish  people 
they  look,  they  stare,  they  laugh,  they  fear,  and  mount  upon  forms  and 
pews,  to  see  these  goodly  pageants,  solemnized  in  this  sort.  Then  after  this 
about  the  church  they  go,  again  and  again,  and  so  forth  into  the  church 
yard,  &c. 

The  hobby  horse  was  cut  out  of  stiff  pasteboard,  represent 
ing  a  pony  with  his  housings,  and  attached  to  the  reveller  in 
such  a  way  as  to  conceal  as  much  as  possible  his  biped  charac 
ter,  and  to  form  of  the  whole  a  very  tolerable  representation 
of  horse  and  rider.  This  whimsical  imitation  may  still  be 
seen  among  the  sports  of  Carnival  at  Rome  and  Naples. 

After  all  allowance  is  made  for  exaggeration  in  the  pre 
ceding  description,  it  furnishes  a  pretty  good  apology  for  the 
dislike  which  the  Puritans  entertained  for  Christmas.  Wheth 
er  we  shall  feel  equal  sympathy  with  them  in  reference  to  one 
of  the  few  incidents  of  a  Christmas  festival  which  have  de 
scended  to  the  present  day,  is  not  so  certain.  Mince-pie  and 
plum-porridge  were  an  established  part  of  the  traditionary 
cheer,  and  probably  did  their  share  in  rendering  the  celebra 
tion  of  the  day  popular.  This  was  enough  to  .disaffect  the 
earnest  reformers  towards  these  tempting  delicacies.  But 
ler,  in  describing  the  objects  of  his  ridicule,  in  Hudibras,  says 
they 

"  Quarrel  with  minced  pies,  and  disparage 

Their  best  and  dearest  friend,  plum-porridge." 

It  was  in  allusion  probably  to  this  passage  in  Hudibras, 
that  Dr.  Johnson  in  his  life  of  Butler  remarks,  "  that  we  have 
never  been  witnesses  of  the  animosities  excited  by  the  use  of 
mince-pies  and  plum-porridge ;  nor  seen  with  what  abhorrence 
those,  who  would  eat  them  at  all  other  times  of  the  year, 
would  shrink  from  them  in  December.  An  old  Puritan,  who 
was  alive  in  my  childhood,  being,  at  one  of  the  feasts  of  the 
church,  invited  by  a  neighbor  to  partake  his  cheer,  told  him, 
that  if  he  would  treat  him  at  an  ale-house  with  beer  brewed 


16  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS. 

for  all  times  and  seasons,  he  should  accept  his  kindness,  but 
would  have  none  of  his  superstitious  meats  and  drinks." 

It  is  not  easy,  at  this  time  of  day,  to  write  gravely  about 
mince-pies  ;  but  regarding  them  as  the  Puritans  did  as  a  por 
tion  of  the  dainties  devoted  (as  they  viewed  matters)  to  the 
cause  of  idolatry,  they  could  not  indulge  in  them  without 
violating  the  spirit  of  the  earliest  law  of  the  primitive  church, 
which  commanded  abstinence  from  "  meats  offered  to  idols." 
At  any  rate,  the  ridicule  is  not  all  on  one  side.  There  was  no 
more  absurdity  in  rejecting  than  in  adhering  to  this  gastro 
nomic  article  of  faith.  An  ingenious  writer  in  the  "  World," 
judicially  commenting  with  mock  gravity  on  the  degeneracy 
of  the  age,  observes, 

"  How  greatly  ought  we  to  regret  the  neglect  of  minced  pies,  which, 
besides  the  ideas  of  merry-making  inseparable  from  them,  were  always 
considered  as  the  test  of  schismatics !  How  zealously  were  they 
swallowed  by  the  Orthodox,  to  the  utter  confusion  of  all  fanatical 
recusants!  If  any  country  gentleman  should  be  so  unfortunate  in  this 
age  (1755)  as  to  lie  under  a  suspicion  of  heresy,  where  will  he  find 
so  easy  a  method  of  acquitting  himself,  as  by  the  ordeal  of  Plum- 
porridge  ?" 

Various  other  choice  viands  wrere  appropriated  to  this  sea 
son,  some  traces  of  which  still  remain  in  the  old  countries. 
A  "  baron  of  beef"  is  still  served  up  at  Christmas  and  other 
great  festivities ;  this  being  the  name  of  the  two  st>-loins 
roasted  "and  brought  to  table  undivided,  a  baron  being  of 
twice  the  dignity  of  a  knight.  A  boar's  head  gaily  dressed 
\vas  a  standing  luxury  at  Christmas.  As  far  back  as  1170, 
according  to  the  ancient  chronicles,  King  Henry  the  Second, 
on  occasion  of  the  coronation  of  his  son,  during  his  own  life 
time,  served  him  at  the  table  as  a  waiter,  bringing  up  the 
boar's  head,  with  trumpets  before  it,  according  to  the  manner. 
"  Never  was  a  monarch  so  served  before,"  exclaimed  the  King 
to  his  Son.  The  latter  instead  of  a  dutiful  response  to  his 
father's  compliment,  said  in  a  low  voice  to  the  Archbishop  of 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  IT 

York,  who  stood  near  him,  that  "  it  was  no  great  condescen 
sion  in  the  Son  of  an  earl  to  wait  on  the  Son  of  a  King." 
Dugdale  in  his  account  of  the  middle  temple,  in  describing  the 
ceremonies  of  Christmas  day  says :  "  Service  in  the  church 
ended,  the  gentlemen  presently  repair  into  the  hall  to  break 
fast  with  brawn,  mustard,  and  malmsey."  At  dinner  "at 
the  first  course,  is  served  in  a  fair  and  large  boar's  head  upon 
a  silver  platter,  with  minstrelsy."  Among  the  earliest  books 
published  in  England,  was  a  collection  of  carols  prepared  to 
be  sung  as  an  accompaniment  to  the  grand  entree  of  the  boar's 
head  ;  and  Warton  in  his  history  of  English  poetry  says  that 
one  of  these  carols,  though  with  many  innovations,  was  in  his 
time  retained  at  Queen's  College,  Oxford. 

In  some  of  the  ancient  Christmas  superstitions  there  was  a 
pathetic  meaning  which  we  can  pardon  if  we  cannot  sympa 
thize  with  it.  A  notion  prevailed  down  to  the  close  of  the 
last  century  in  the  western  parts  of  Devonshire,  that  at  twelve 
o'clock  at  night  on  Christmas  eve,  the  oxen  in  their  stalls  are 
always  found  on  their  knees  as  in  an  attitude  of  devotion ; 
and  (which  is  still  more  singular)  since  the  adoption  of  the 
new  style,  they  still  continue  to  do  this  only  on  the  eve  of  old 
Christmas  day.  "  An  honest  countryman,  living  on  the  edge 
of  St.  Stephen's  down  near  Launceston,  Cornwwall,  informed 
me  "  (I  quote  the  words  of  Mr.  Brand  in  "  his  Popular  An 
tiquities,"  the  learned  work  from  which  most  of  the  materials 
of  this  desultory  article  are  derived,)  "  that  he  once,  with  some 
others,  made  a  trial  of  the  truth  of  the  above,  and  watching 
several  oxen  in  their  stalls  at  the  above  time,  at  twelve  o'clock 
at  night,  they  observed  the  two  oldest  oxen  only  fall  upon 
their  knees,  and  as  he  expressed  it  in  the  idiom  of  the  coun 
try,  make  '  a  cruel  moan  like  Christian  creatures.'  " 

This  change  from  the  old  style  to  the  new  took  place  in 
England,  as  is  well  known,  about  the  middle  of  the  last  cen 
tury.  The  act  of  parliament,  by  which  the  alteration  was 
effected,  was  carried  through  the  house  of  Lords,  principally 


18  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

under  the  influence  of  the  celebrated  Lord  Chesterfield,  and 
tho  Earl  of  Macclesfield,  the  son  of  the  unfortunate  Lord 
Chancellor  of  that  name.  Lord  Macclcsfield  was  eminent 
an  a  man  of  Science,  President  of  tho  Royal  Society,  and 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  grounds,  on  which  the  refor 
mation  of  the  calendar  had  become  necessary.  He  was  how 
ever  an  indifferent  speaker.  Lord  Chesterfield,  on  the  other 
hand,  had  but  an  amateur  acquaintance  with  the  scientific  bear 
ings  of  the  subject,  but  was  an  eloquent  and  persuasive  orator. 
He  was  accordingly  able  to  present  the  subject  to  the  house 
of  Lords  in  a  very  favorable  light.  Lord  Macclcsfield,  on  the 
contrary,  (as  we  learn  from  Lord  Chesterfield  himself,)  "  who 
had  the  greatest  share  in  forming  the  bill,  and  was  one  of  the 
greatest  mathematicians  and  astronomers  in  Europe,  spoke 
afterwards  with  infinite  knowledge  and  all  the  clearness  that 
so  intricate  a  matter  could  admit  of;  but  as  his  words,  his 
periods,  and  his  utterance  were  not  near  so  good  as  mine 
[Lord  Chesterfield's]  tho  preference  was  most  unanimously, 
though  most  unjustly,  given  to  me." 

The  reformation  of  the  calendar  was  for  tho  time  an  ex 
tremely  unpopular  measure.  Its  scientific  grounds  were  not 
understood  by  tho  masses,  and  the  fact  that  it  emanated  from 
tho  Pope  was  no  recommendation  to  tho  Protestant  world. 
The  son  of  Lord  Macclesfield  standing  as  a  candidate  for  par 
liament,  in  a  contested  election  for  Oxfordshire,  some  timo 
afterward,  tho  mob  insultingly  called  out  to  him,  "  Give  us 
back,  you  rascal,  those  cloven  days  which  your  father  stole 
from  us." 

This  pleasing  specimen  of  electioneering  candor  and  fair 
ness  to  political  opponents  shows  that  wo  do  not  possess  a 
monopoly  of  those  articles,  as  tho  tone  of  our  newspapers  in 
tho  course  of  a  warm  canvass,  might  otherwise  lead  us  to  sup 
pose. 

Hut  to  return  to  Christmas. 

Milton's  devout  imagination  does  not  confine  to  animated 


Tin-:  MOI  N  r   YIKNON    rM-ius.  11) 

nature  an   instinctive  sense  of  tho  blessed  influence  of  the 
Nativity : — 

" Peaceful  was  the  night, 


Wherein  the  Prince  of  lijrht 

His  reign  of  peace  upon  the  earth  began ; 

The  winds  with  wonder  whist 
Smoothly  the  waters  kist, 

Whispering  new  joys  to  the  wild  ocean  ; 
Who  now  hath  quite  forgot  to  rave, 

While  birds  of  calm  sit  brooding  on  the  charmed  wave." 

Although  the  ancient  superstitions  (of  which  I  have  alluded 
to  a  very  small  part.)  connected  with  Christinas  and  the  fan 
tastic  revels  with  which  it  was  celebrated,  are  now  almost  for 
gotten,  it  is  still  observed  in  the  "  old  country,"  as  we  learn 
from  Sir  Walter  Scott  and  our  own  Geoffrey  Crayon,  with  no 
little  cordiality  and  fervor.  The  church  is  decorated  with 
evergreens  and  the  hall  adorned  with  misletoe.  It  is  a  holy- 
day  for  the  children  and  a  season  of  good-fellowship  for  young 
and  old.  The  scattered  members  of  the  family  are  re-assem 
bled  ;  the  dependents  of  the  house  are  gathered  with  pniri- 
arelial  hospitality  under  the  roof  of  its  head,  and  while  genial 
festivity  prevails  within  doors,  bountiful  supplies  of  clothing 
and  food  are  sent  to  the  neighboring  poor.  The  beautiful 
description  of  Christmas  in  the  introduction  to  the  Sixth 
Canto  of  Marmion,  will  immediately  recur  to  the  rondor, 
though  it  contains  the  customary  lament  of  the  present  day 
over  the  good  old  times  which  are  prosed  and  gone  : — 

"England  was  merry  England,  when 
Old  Christmas  brought  his  sports  again. 
'Twas  Christmas  broached  the  mightiest  ale  ; 
"Twas  Christmas  told  the  merriest  tale  ; 
A  Christmas  gambol  oft  conld  cheer 
The  poor  man's  heart  through  half  the  year." 

In  the  later  editions  of  Marmion,  an  extract  is  given  from 


20  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

one  of  Ben  Jonson's  masques,  which  contains  a  kind  of  eum- 
mary  view  of  the  Christmas  sports  as  practised  in  his  day. 

But  nothing  has  been  better  said  or  sung  on  the  subject  of 
Christmas  than  the  delightful  sketch  of  Mr.  Irving.  The  vari 
ous  associations  that  give  interest  to  the  festival  are  alluded 
to  with  delicacy  and  truth.  The  religious  significance  of  the 
event,  the  family-gatherings,  the  winter  season  with  its  indoor 
fireside  enjoyments,  its  now  obsolete  sports  remembered  with 
a  sigh  at  their  exclusion  from  modern  life,  together  with  a 
warm  picture  of  the  kindliness  and  cheery  festivity  which  are 
still  kept  up  at  Christmas,  are  touched  in  language  as  melodi 
ous  as  a  carol  of  olden  times.  Having  described  the  simple 
music  of  the  "  Waits,"  still  to  be  heard  in  some  parts  of  Eng 
land,  he  draws  to  a  close  with  one  of  those  matchless  strains 
of  Shakespeare  which  pour  life  and  poetry  into  the  humblest 
recesses  of  nature. 

"  How  delightfully  the  imagination,  when  wrought  upon  by  these  moral 
influences,  turns  every  thing  to  melody  and  beauty  !     The  very  crowing 
of  the  cock,  heard  sometimes  in  the  profound  repose  of  the  country, 
'  telling  the  night-watches  to  his  feathery  dames,'  was  thought  by  the 
common  people  to  announce  the  approach  of  this  sacred  festival : — 
"  Some  say  that  ever,  'gainst  that  season  comes 
Wherein  our  Saviour's  birth  is  celebrated, 
This  bird  of  dawning  singetli  all  night  long, 
And  then  they  say  no  spirit  dares  stir  abroad ; 
The  nights  are  wholesome — then  no  planets  strike, 
No  fairy  takes,  no  witch  hath  power  to  charm, 
So  hallowed  and  so  gracious  is  that  time." 

May  this  "  hallowed  and  gracious  time "  diffuse  its  inno 
cent  cheer  through  every  family  circle,  and  scatter  its  bounties 
largely  among  the  children  of  want ! 


NUMBEK  THEEE. 

THE    HOUSE    OF    FRANKLIN. 

Demolition  of  the  house  of  Franklin  in  Boston — Why  necessary — Crooked  and  nar 
row  Streets  of  Boston  and  their  origin — Great  inconvenience  from  this  cause  and 
necessity  of  widening  the  Streets— Union  Street  widened  and  tho  house  at  the 
corner  of  Union  and  Hanover  Streets,  in  which  Franklin  lived,  necessarily 
removed— Description  of  the  house  and  of  its  changes — Eeasons  against  removing 
it  to  another  place — All  the  original  portions  of  it  preserved. 

ON  the  morning  of  the  10th  of  November,  1858,  His 
Honor  Frederic  W.  Lincoln,  Jr.,  the  present  active  and 
intelligent  Mayor  of  Boston,  called  upon  me  in  his  gig,  and 
proposed  to  me  to  go  down  and  see  the  house  of  Franklin,  at 
the  corner  of  Union  and  Hanover  streets.  He  was  led  to  do 
this,  from  the  fact  that  the  house  and  its  impending  fate  had 
been  the  subject  of  repeated  conferences  between  both  the 
present  and  the  last  Mayor  and  myself.  On  our  way  His 
Honor  suggested  to  me,  that  he  had  called  upon  me  at  a  very 
early  hour,  in  order  that  we  might  arrive  perhaps  "  in  season, 
to  witness  the  first  stroke  of  the  sledge-hammer  in  demolish 
ing  the  house." 

Demolishing  the  house  of  Franklin !  in  the  City  of 
Boston,  the  house  of  her  most  illustrious  native  Son  ;  in  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  house  of  the  Philoso 
pher,  Statesman,  and  Patriot,  who  shone  among  the  brightest 
lights  of  the  eighteenth  !  What !  shall  the  municipal  govern 
ment  of  the  "  American  Athens  "  demolish  the  house  of  their 
own  Franklin,  while  an  enraged  foreign  conqueror  could  spare 


22  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEKS. 

the  house  of  the  Boeotian  Pindar,  when  every  other  edifice  in 
Thebes  was  levelled  with  the  dust  ? — a  circumstance  which, 
by  the  way,  must  have  materially  impaired  the  value  of  the 
one  building  left  standing,  as  a  piece  of  real  estate.  Shall 
the  inhabitants  of  the  "  Literary  Emporium,"  in  time  of 
peace,  withhold  from  the  dwelling  of  their  own  most  distin 
guished  fellow-citizen  that  protection,  which  Milton  did  not 
scruple  to  demand  for  his  humble  abode  in  time  of  civil  war, 
from 

"  Captain,  or  Co-lo-nel,  or  knight  at  arms  ?  " 

Tell  it  not  in  New  York  ;  publish  it  not  in  the  streets  of 
Philadelphia ;  unless  you  publish  and  tell  at  the  same  time, 
(as  you  will  be  sure  to  do,  from  the  amiable  instinct  which 
leads  us  to  proclaim  just  what  our  neighbors  do  not  want  to 
hear,)  that  they  also  have  demolished  the  houses  of  Franklin 
and  Washington. 

But  is  it  absolutely  necessary  that  the  house  of  Franklin, 
at  the  corner  of  Union  and  Hanover  streets  in  Boston,  should 
be  demolished  1 

To  answer  this  question,  we  must  go  back  to  the  origin  of 
the  ancient  and  venerable  Metropolis  of  New  England ; 
somewhat  as  good  Mr.  Thomas  Prince  commences  his  New 
England  chronology  with  the  creation  of  Adam  ;  fortifying 
the  date  before  the  flood,  which  he  assigns  to  that  important 
event,  by  the  authority  of  Funecius,  Bucholzer,  Franken- 
berger,  and  other  writers  equally  well-known  and  popular. 
Boston  was  not  originally  laid  out  like  Philadelphia  in 
squares,  nor  like  Washington  on  a  system  of  rectangles  tra 
versed  obliquely  by  avenues.  None  of  the  streets  follow  a 
straight  line  for  any  considerable  distance,  and  their  ordinate 
of  curvature  has  escaped  Professor  Pierce,  in  his  entertaining 
work  on  "  curves  and  functions."  It  is  such,  however,  as  to 
make  it  one  of  the  most  important  functions  of  the  City 
Government  to  straighten  them.  If  the  homely  truth  must 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  23 

be  told,  it  is  said  that  the  streets  in  the  ancient  City  of  Boston 
were  originally  laid  out  by  the  cows,  going  to  pasture  in  what 
is  now  Beacon  street  and  Park  street,  and  returning  at  night 
from  those  distant  regions.  While  the  greater  part  of  the 
peninsula  lay  in  a  state  of  nature,  and  the  population  consist 
ed  of  a  few  thousands,  not  to  say  a  few  hundreds,  no  incon 
venience  attended  this  primitive  engineering  ;  which  was  cer 
tainly  more  in  conformity  to  the  age  of  Adam,  with  which 
our  ancient  Chronologer  begins  his  work,  than  to  that  of 
the  "  Colossus  of  Roads,"  who  has  prefixed  a  Mac  to  the 
family  name. 

This  system  of  engineering  could  hardly  fail  to  produce 
crooked  arid  narrow  streets,  of  which  the  effects  are  seen  and 
felt  to  the  present  day,  especially  by  that  most  dissatisfied 
and  querulous  class  of  mankind,  the  tax-payers.  Nor  are 
they  the  only  class  who  suffer.  In  consequence  of  the  crook 
edness  of  the  streets,  none  but  a  native  Bostonian,  who  has 
passed  regularly  through  the  primary  and  grammar  schools, 
can  find  his  way  about  the  town  without  a  guide.  A  stranger 
who  comes  for  a  few  days,  especially  a  Philadelphia!!,  if  he 
attempts  to  make  his  calls  alone,  generally  brings  up  at  the 
end  of  an  hour  or  two  on  the  steps  of  the  Tremont  from  which 
he  started,  without  having  found  one  of  the  places  for  which  he 
set  out.  A  few  years  since,  the  choice  of  Mayor  was  decided 
by  this  circumstance.  One  of  the  candidates,  having  only 
lived  five  or  six  years  in  the  City,  could  not,  it  was  averred, 
find  his  way  about  the  town,  without  the  directory.  His 
opponent  was  a  native  who  could  thread  his  way  round  the 
greater  part  of  the  City  without  a  guide,  and  so  carried  the 
day.  He  has  never  once  lost  his  way,  and  has  just  been 
re-elected. 

The  narrowness  of  the  streets  is  a  more  serious  evil.  It 
was  of  little  consequence,  while  the  population  was  small, 
commerce  inconsiderable,  vehicles  of  all  kinds  few,  and  trucks 
short ;  but  with  a  crowded  population  and  an  active  com- 


24:  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

merce,  a  truck  twenty-five  feet  in  length  is  something  of  a 
circumstance  in  a  street  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  wide.  It  is  said 
the  ferret  will  turn  round  in  a  hole  no  bigger  than  himself; 
but  that  a  truck  twenty-five  feet  long,  heavily  loaded,  and 
drawn  by  two  or  three  horses  tandem,  could  turn  round  in  a 
street  of  twenty  feet  wide  would  be  incredible,  if  it  were  not 
constantly  seen  in  Boston.  It  is  however  felt  to  be  a  serious 
inconvenience,  and  it  having  been  found  that  the  trucks,  how 
ever  dangerous  to  the  citizens,  cannot  be  curtailed,  with  any 
safety  to  the  municipal  powers  that  attempt  it,  the  alternative 
policy  of  widening  the  streets  has  as  far  as  possible  been 
adopted. 

And  here  it  may  be  proper,  as  we  are  writing  for  the 
information  of  many  of  those  benighted  persons,  who  live 
at  a  distance  from  what  is  called  by  the  "  Autocrat,"  (who 
rules  us  from  the  breakfast  table  with  such  mild  and  absolute 
sway,)  "  the  hub  of  the  Solar  system,"  viz. :  "  Boston  State 
House,"  to  give  a  more  particular  description  of  THE  TRUCK, 
which,  in  its  full  development,  is  a  Boston  institution. 
Things  bearing  the  name  exist  in  other  places,  but  they 
resemble  a  Boston  truck,  as  a  tadpole  resembles  a  full-grown 
Batrachian  ;  as  a  pig-nut  resembles  a  shell-bark  ;  as  the  sloe 
resembles  the  green-gage  ;  as  the  crab-apple  resembles  the 
Newtown  pippin ;  as  the  button  pear,  which  takes  hold  of 
your  gums  and  teeth,  like  a  dentist's  forceps,  resembles  a  glou 
morceau  ;  as  the  dog  rose  resembles  the  Queen  of  May  ;  as  the 
bitter  almond  resembles  the  Heath  peach  ;  in  short,  as  a  great 
many  things  resemble — that  is,  do  not  resemble — a  great 
many  other  things,  to  which  they  bear  a  generic  affinity,  but 
no  likeness. 

The  Boston  truck  is  constructed  of  two  long  parallel 
shafts,  hewn  from  the  best  of  oak,  winter  felled,  well  sea 
soned,  and  free  from  faults.  These  shafts  are  twenty-five  feet 
long,  ten  inches  wide,  and  five  inches  thick  ;  strengthened 
underneath  with  somewhat  shorter  pieces  of  the  same  width. 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  25 

The  upper  ends  of  the  shafts  are  cut  curving  and  shaped 
round,  to  fit  the  sides  of  the  wheel-horse.  They  are  then 
framed  together  by  two  transverse  pieces ;  the  well  com 
pacted  structure  is  placed  upon  a  low  axle,  supported  by 
wheels,  which  are  three  feet  in  diameter  ;  and  thus  the  truck 
is  complete.  It  has  no  carriage-body  of  any  kind  ;  if  there 
is  a  thing  in  the  universe  which  a  truckman  disdains,  it  is  the 
whole  range  of  enclosed  or  covered  vehicles  from  a  hand-cart 
up  to  a  Conestoga  wagon.  The  truck  has  no  head-board,  no 
tail-board,  no  side-boards ;  but  is  open  into  free  space  on 
every  side ;  a  small  movable  block  only  at  the  lower  end, 
being  held  by  iron  pins  nearer  or  further  from  the  horses,  as 
the  size  of  the  load  requires.  A  number  of  horses,  in  pro 
portion  to  the  load  to  be  drawrn,  generally  two  or  three,  some 
times  six  or  eight,  are  harnessed  tandem  to  the  truck  ;  of  mas- 
todontic  dimensions,  high-fed,  sleek,  and  docile.  The  truck 
man  is  in  keeping  with  his  truck  and  his  horses ;  regularly 
six  feet  two  in  his  shoes  ;  stout  in  proportion ;  temperate, 
intelligent,  patient ;  to  drive  a  loaded  truck  in  safety  through 
Boston  streets  when  business  is  brisk,  requiring  almost  as 
much  courage,  self-possession,  and  alertness,  as  to  take  a 
three-decker  through  the  Needles  in  a  gale.  The  truckmen, 
consequently,  several  hundreds  in  number,  form  a  very 
important  body — the  reserved  power  of  the  community. 
All  else  may  go  wrong — the  upper  ten,  the  lower  ten  thou 
sand  may  fail ;  but  if  the  readers  of  "  the  Ledger  "  and  the 
truckmen  stand  firm,  all  comes  out  right  at  last.  They  quell 
riots,  scatter  mobs,  compose  a  considerable  part  of  the  volun 
teer  cavalry,  work  with  a  will  at  fires,  make  and  unmake 
aldermen,  and  powerfully  affect  even  the  choice  of  Mayors. 

As  to  the  load  of  a  truck,  it  has  no  precise  limits. 
Neither  Legendre  or  Bowditch  has  given  a  formula  for  the 
amount  of  goods  that  can  be  conveyed  on  a  truck.  The 
mode  of  loading  is  a  problem  in  the  Equilibrium  of  forces ; 
the  operation  of  unloading  a  study  in  Dynamics.  The  truck, 


26  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS. 

for  the  latter  purpose,  ranges  along  the  street  till  the  axle  is 
on  a  line  with  the  door  of  the  warehouse ;  the  leaders  are 
unhitched  from  the  end  of  one  of  the  shafts,  so  as  to  leave 
half  the  street  open,  and  a  word  of  command  is  uttered  by 
the  truckman,  which  the  wheel  horse  understands  as  well  as  a 
common  Christian  understands  his  mother  tongue,  and  which 
in  English  means,  "  Quick  time,  backward  wheel,  march !  " 
instantly  the  truck,  with  its  load,  revolves  as  upon  a  pivot, 
through  the  arc  of  a  quadrant ;  the  tail  of  the  truck  is  thus 
brought  round,  and  runs  far  back  into  the  warehouse ;  the 
chocking  block  is  removed,  and  then  the  load — hogsheads  of 
tobacco,  sugar,  oil,  or  molasses — tierces  of  rice — pipes  of  wine 
and  bales  of  cotton,  go  down  the  inclined  plane  of  the  truck 
with  a  run,  like  a  bore  at  the  Sand  Heads,  or  a  spring  tide  hi 
the  Bay  of  Fundy.  At  this  precise  stage  of  the  operation,  it 
is  prudent  for  all  persons  not  immediately  engaged  in  it, 
leisurely  customers,  genteel  loafers,  and  outsiders  generally, 
who  may  happen  to  be  in  the  warehouse,  to  stand  a  little  on 
one  side ;  some  difficult  cases  in  surgery  may  be  prevented 
by  their  doing  so.  When,  however,  by  any  chance,  a  pack 
age  containing  bona  fide  fragile  and  valuable  articles  (not  a 
box  of  old  brass  andirons  labelled  "  Glass,  this  side  up,  with 
care,"  but  a  Louis  Quatorze  clock  or  an  alabaster  copy  of 
Canova's  Hebe)  is  confided  to  a  faithful  truckman,  he  carries  it 
as  gently  as  he  would  a  sick  child.  In  a  few  moments  the 
load  is  discharged ;  the  leaders  again  hitched  on ;  another 
impressive  word  of  command  uttered,  which  means,  "  Quick 
time,  right  or  left  wheel,  (as  the  case  may  be,)  forward, 
march  ;"  sometimes  a  cheery,  but  good-natured  crack  of  the 
whip  is  heard,  which  never  touches  the  noble  animals,  (for  a 
true-hearted  truckman  would  about  as  soon  beat  his  wife  as 
his  horse ;)  and  the  empty  truck  bounds  over  the  ringing 
pavement  in  search  of  another  load,  like  a  ricochet  shot. 

The  immediate  object  of  the  institution  of  trucks  is  of 
course  to  convey  merchandise ;  the  final  cause  (teleologically 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS .  27 

speaking)  is  to  compel  the  widening  of  the  streets.  This 
subject  accordingly  occupies  much  of  the  time  and  attention 
of  the  municipal  government  of  Boston.  In  all  representa 
tive  governments,  whether  of  the  City,  the  State,  or  the 
Union,  in  order  to  avoid  uncomfortable  jealousies  that  one 
part  or  region  is  preferred  to  another,  it  is  requisite,  when 
you  undertake  a  public  work  in  one  place,  to  do  the  same 
thing  in  twenty  others  at  the  same  time.  On  this  principle, 
it  is  necessary  to  carry  on  the  work  of  widening  and  improv 
ing  the  thoroughfares  (which,  while  it  is  in  progress,  of 
course  shuts  them  up  altogether)  in  half  a  dozen  different 
places  at  once ;  reducing  the  city  for  the  time  very  much  to 
the  state  of  Paris  in  a  season  of  barricades.  Improvements 
of  this  kind  are  generally  as  much  for  the  benefit  of  the 
abuttors  as  of  the  public  at  large,  and  accordingly  in  New 
York  and  some  other  cities,  the  owners  of  the  property  bene 
fited  are  charged  with  a  part  of  the  expense.  In  Boston  the 
public  treasury  (to  the  disgust  of  the  above-mentioned  tax 
payers)  remunerates  the  owner  handsomely  for  having  his 
property  made  more  valuable. 

In  the  progress  of  improvements  of  this  description,  one 
of  the  important  streets  leading  directly  from  the  centre  of 
the  city  of  Boston  to  a  region  containing  the  terminations  of 
four  railroads,  and  two  bridges,  took  its  turn  to  be  widened. 
This  has  already  been  done  in  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
street,  and  the  operation  will  soon  extend  to  its  entire  length. 
It  so  happened  that  at  the  corner  of  this  street  and  Hanover 
street,  there  stood  an  ancient  building,  of  a  very  ordinary 
appearance,  upon  the  spot  to  which  the  father  of  Benjamin 
Franklin  removed  from  Milk  street,  shortly  after  Benjamin 
was  born,  and  there  carried  on  the  trade  of  a  soap-boiler, 
reluctantly  assisted  for  some  time  by  the  ambitious  boy, 
already  aspiring  to  higher  things.  "  At  ten  years  old,"  says 
Benjamin  Franklin,  "  I  was  taken  [from  school]  to  help  my 
father  in  his  business,  which  was  that  of  a  tallow  chandler 


28  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

and  soap  boiler ;  a  business  to  which  he  was  not  bred,  but 
had  assumed  on  his  arrival  in  New  England,  because  he  found 
that  his  dyeing  trade,  being  in  little  request,  would  not  main 
tain  his  family.  Accordingly  I  was  employed  in  cutting 
wicks  for  the  candles,  filling  the  moulds  for  cast  candles, 
attending  the  shop,  going  of  errands,  &c.  I  disliked  the 
trade,  and  had  a  strong  inclination  to  go  to  sea." 

The  house  in  which,  as  is  commonly  understood,  this  hum 
ble  trade  was  carried  on  by  Josiah  Franklin,  and  in  which 
Benjamin  discontentedly  assisted  him  for  two  years,  now  stood 
in  the  way  of  widening  Union  street.  It  presented  a  front  on 
Hanover  street  of  about  fifteen  feet,  and  Union  street  was  to 
be  widened  to  just  that  extent ;  in  other  Mrords,  it  became  ne 
cessary  that  the  house  in  which  Benjamin  Franklin  is  supposed 
to  have  passed  his  childhood  should  come  away. 

Watching  the  progress  of  this  improvement  (for  such 
unquestionably  it  was)  from  day  to  day,  as  I  came  into  Boston 
from  the  country,  in  the  summer  of  1857,  I  was  not  a  little 
concerned  at  what  seemed  to  be  the  impending  fate  of  the 
house  of  Franklin.  That  it  must  give  way  was  certain,  but 
the  thought  occurred  to  me,  that  it  might  be  removed  to  the 
neighboring  square,  and  there  be  restored  by  approximation 
at  least  to  its  original  condition  and  appearance.  On  this 
subject  I  had  several  confidential  communications  with  the  then 
worthy  Mayor  of  Boston,  the  Hon.  A.  H.  Rice,  lately  chosen 
a  representative  in  Congress.  The  year,  however,  passed  away, 
and  "  the  Franklin  House  "  stood  its  ground.  I  brought  the 
subject  to  the  notice  of  our  new  Mayor  the  present  year  (1858), 
and  to  that  of  the  intelligent  and  energetic  chairman  of  the 
Committee  of  public  buildings,  Mr.  Alderman  Whiteman, 
respectfully  urging  them  to  consider  the  possibility  of  remov 
ing  and  so  saving  the  Franklin  House,  an  object  in  which 
they  fully  sympathized  with  me. 

It  was  found,  however,  on  examination,  that  this  was 
impossible;  and  even  if  possible,  of  doubtful  expediency. 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  29 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  not  certain,  but  the  contrary  is  proba 
ble,  that  the  house  lately  demolished  is  the  one  in  which 
Franklin  passed  his  boyhood,  though  built  upon  the  spot 
occupied  by  the  former  dwelling,  and,  according  to  the  eco 
nomical  practices  of  that  day,  as  far  as  they  were  available, 
of  materials  taken  from  it.  In  the  next  place,  the  house  just 
removed  had  undergone  several  successive  modernizations. 
It  had  been  so  often  built  upon,  altered  and  renovated,  as  to 
have  lost  all  appearance  of  an  ancient  building  both  without 
and  within.  Its  identity  in  fact  was  open  to  doubt,  nearly  as 
much  as  that  of  the  ship  Paralus  in  antiquity,  which  had 
been  so  often  and  so  thoroughly  repaired,  that  not  a  stick  of 
the  ancient  timber  remained ;  with  the  difference,  however, 
that  the  ancient  form  and  appearance  of  the  Paralus  were 
scrupulously  kept  up  ;  while  the  old  Franklin  house  had  been 
transformed  into  a  modern  shop.  It  reminded  me  a  little 
of  the  question,  which  was  a  good  deal  agitated  in  the  meta 
physical  circles  of  the  younger  classes  at  Harvard,  in  my 
college  days,  whether,  after  a  pen-knife  had  had  first  a  new 
blade,  and  then  a  new  handle,  it  was  the  same  knife,  or  a 
different  one.  When  this  question  was  complicated  by  the 
additional  hypothesis,  that  the  original  handle  and  blade  had 
been  successively  picked  up  and  put  together  by  the  "  fortu 
nate  finder,"  it  may  be  easily  conceived  to  present  points, 
with  which  the  sophomoric  mind  would  find  it  somewhat 
difficult  to  grapple. 

1  will  not  undertake  to  say,  that  if  what  has  in  successive 
periods  been  taken  from  the  Franklin  house  had  been  pre 
served  and  put  together,  it  would  have  made  a  duplicate 
house,  but  certainly  there  was  nothing  remaining  of  the  ancient 
structure,  but  a  portion  of  the  old  wall,  much  built  upon  by 
modern  additions,  and  the  main  timbers  and  joists.  The  car 
penter  who  had  executed  the  last  modernization,  added  his 
testimony  to  the  same  effect,  in  corroboration  of  what  was 
plainly  enough  seen  in  the  state  of  the  building.  A  new  story 


30  THE  MOUNT  VERNOX  PAPERS. 

had,  at  that  time,  been  added  to  a  part  of  the  building,  the 
ancient  partitions  removed,  the  original  windows  taken  out, 
much  of  the  walls  cut  away  to  admit  other  windows  of  larger 
size  and  in  modern  taste,  and  all  the  wood-work,  excepting 
timbers  and  joists  as  aforesaid,  made  new.  What  more  than 
any  thing  else  identified  the  building  in  its  association  with 
Franklin  and  his  father, — the  ancient  soap  kettle  and  the  fire 
place  in  which  it  was  incased, — were  on  this  occasion  removed 
from  the  cellar,  which  \vas  probably  in  Franklin's  time  much 
less  of  an  underground  place  than  it  has  since  become,  by  the 
gradual  elevation  of  the  level  of  the  streets.  Nothing  of  the 
original  structure  seemed  left,  but  the  bricks  in  the  lower 
portions  of  the  walls,  the  timbers  and  joists  of  the  lower  and 
perhaps  the  second  floor,  a  door  leading  down  into  the  cellar, 
half  a  window,  and  the  hearth-stone  of  the  fireplace,  in  what 
is  now  a  completely  subterranean  cellar,  but  which  was  no 
doubt  originally  a  basement  room. 

Had  it  been  worth  while  to  attempt  the  removal  of  a 
building  of  so  questionable  a  character,  it  could  not  have  been 
effected  without  further  serious  changes.  The  long  side, 
parallel  to  that  which  faces  Union  street,  was  not  of  brick  like 
the  three  other  sides,  but  of  slight  frame-work.  To  put  the 
building  into  a  condition  to  be  removed,  this  fourth  side  must 
have  been  built  up  of  brick,  with  an  entire  renewal  of  the 
interior  frame.  This  would  have  gone  far  to  destroy  what 
little  remained  of  the  identity  of  the  house.  The  removal, 
for  the  sake  of  preserving  it,  of  a  structure  of  doubtful  origin, 
already  so  greatly  changed,  and  which  required,  as  a  prepara 
tion  to  be  removed,  changes  still  more  essential,  seemed  an 
illusory  operation,  and  the  project  was  abandoned. 

In  this  way  the  demolition  of  Franklin's  house  was  inevi 
table.  That  it  must  disappear  from  the  spot  which  it  occupied 
was  clear.  The  street  must  be  widened.  If  the  living  Frank 
lin,  grown  up  to  the  height  of  his  world-wide  renown,  had 
stood  upon  the  spot,  he  must  have  stepped  aside  or  been  run 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON"  PAPERS.  31 

down  by  the  Charlestown  Omnibus ;  and  poor  Richard, — 
as  thrifty  as  poor, — was  not  the  roan  who  would  have  allowed 
a  sentimental  feeling  about  a  ruinous  old  house  to  prevent  the 
widening  of  a  great  thoroughfare.  As  little  would  he  have 
countenanced  the  deceptive  operation  of  transferring  the  build 
ing  we  have  described  to  another  spot,  and  that  after  another 
renovation  under  the  pretence  of  removing,  for  the  sake  of 
preserving,  a  precious  relic  of  antiquity. 

Every  thing  removable  and  coeval  with  Benjamin  will  be 
preserved.  The  gilt  globe  which  hung  for  a  century  and  a 
half  at  the  corner  of  the  house,  and  was  supposed  to  symbolize 
a  round  cake  of  soap,  bearing  the  name  of  Josiah  Franklin  and 
the  date  of  1C98,  has  been  preserved  by  Gen'l  E.  L.  Stone, 
the  late  proprietor  of  the  house,  and  will  doubtless  find  its 
way  to  some  appropriate  public  institution.  The  handle  and 
piston  of  the  old  pump,  the  door,  the  window,  and  the  hearth 
stone  above  referred  to,  are  safe,  with  all  that  is  valuable  of 
the  ancient  frame.  Little  has  been  demolished  that  could  be 
saved,  and  nothing  that  was  worth  saving. 

But  though  it  was  not  possible  nor  desirable  to  preserve 
the  house  of  Franklin,  as  it  is  generally  regarded, — the  house 
certainly  which  stood  on  the  spot  where  he  passed  his  boy 
hood, — Boston  has  not  been  indifferent  to  the  memorials  con 
tained  within  her  precincts  of  the  illustrious  mechanic,  philoso 
pher,  statesman,  patriot,  and  philanthropist.  But  of  these 
we  must  speak  on  some  future  occasion. 


NUMBEK  FOUK. 

A  SAFE   ANSWER. 

Keuben  Mitchell's  education— Becomes  a  partner  in  business  with  his  master — Mar 
ries  his  daughter— Succeeds  to  the  inheritance  and  business  of  his  Father-in-law- 
Invests  the  profits  of  his  business  in  real  estate — Gradually  purchases  a  large 
number  of  farms,  many  of  which  are  unproductive — The  number  of  his  farms 
known  only  to  himself— Curiosity  of  friends  and  the  community  on  that  subject 
— It  becomes  a  topic  of  public  remark — Measures  adopted  to  solve  the  mystery — 
And  the  result. 

REUBEN  MITCHELL  belonged  to  an  old  Quaker  family  in  the 
south-eastern  part  of  Massachusetts,  and  had  been  brought  up 
in  the  straitest  peculiarities  of  the  sect.  His  dress  was  in  all 
respects  in  the  modest  Quaker  style,  and  his  speech  retained 
the  once  universal  solemnity  of  the  second  person.  His  calm 
and  quiet  temper  was  in  unison  with  the  gentle  austerities  of 
the  sect ;  and  the  last  thought  of  Reuben  Mitchell's  heart 
was  to  adopt  the  innovations  in  language,  dress,  and  manner, 
which  began  to  be  attempted  in  his  childhood,  by  some  of  the 
youthful  members  of  the  once  persecuted  but  now  respected 
brotherhood. 

Reuben  was  brought  up  as  a  merchant,  under  a  prosper 
ous  relative,  who  first  in  the  whale  fishery  and  then  in  gen 
eral  business  had  amassed  a  considerable  property.  First  as 
apprentice  and  then  as  clerk,  he  went  through  the  severe  rou 
tine  of  the  old  school.  Early  hours  and  the  performance  of 
a  great  deal  of  manual  and  even  menial  labor,  were  then 
expected  of  all  young  men  devoted  to  a  business  life,  although 
belonging  to  what  are  called  respectable  families.  Reuben 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEKS.  33 

submitted  to  these  hardships,  if  hardships  they  are,  with 
cheerfulness.  In  fact,  they  were  formerly  considered  as  a 
matter  of  course,  and  no  more  to  be  complained  of  than  the 
order  of  the  seasons. 

With  these  feelings  and  habits  Reuben  Mitchell  passed 
through  his  business  novitiate,  and  was  soon  admitted  a  jun 
ior  partner  in  the  house  by  his  late  master,  on  the  footing,  as 
he  could  bring  no  money  capital  into  the  concern,  of  doing 
nearly  all  the  work  and  receiving  scarce  any  of  the  profits  of 
the  establishment.  This  arrangement,  however,  was  not 
unusual,  nor  deemed  oppressive.  The  gains  which  it  yielded 
Reuben  were  small,  but  they  satisfied  his  modest  wants,  and 
small  as  they  were,  he  saved  something. 

In  due  time  Reuben's  business  connection  wTith  his  late 
master  led  to  one  of  a  gentler  character.  Hannah  Folger 
was  her  father's  only  child  ;  three  or  four  years  younger 
than  Reuben  ;  gay  and  sprightly  after  the  type  of  Friends  ; 
dark  hair  ;  a  smiling  eye  ;  a  dimpled  cheek  ;  an  air  and  man 
ner,  which,  among  the  world's  people,  might  have  been 
thought  to  possess  a  dash  of  coquetry,  but  in  Hannah  serving 
only  to  create  a  pleasing  contrast  with  the  quiet  garb  and 
antiquated  speech  of  the  sect. 

It  was  almost  a  matter  of  course  that  a  tender  feeling 
should  spring  up  between  Reuben  and  Hannah.  We  intend 
no  disparagement  by  using  the  phrase,  "  matter  of  course." 
We  have  no  doubt  there  is  as  much  of  the  romance  of  Love 
among  Friends,  as  among  the  world's  people  ;  but  it  was  all 
but  impossible,  that,  with  the  continual  opportunities  which 
presented  themselves  for  friendly  intercourse,  something  ten 
derer  than  friendship  should  not  spring  up  between  them. 
They  had  grown  up  together ;  Reuben  had  boarded  while  an 
apprentice  in  her  father's  family ;  he  was  now  her  father's 
partner,  and  possessed  his  entire  confidence ;  and  it  is  alto 
gether  probable  that,  in  his  quiet  way,  and  as  far  as  Friends 
may  be  supposed  capable  of  entering  into  such  calculations, 


3i  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

he  had  for  a  long  time  intended  that  Eeuben  and  Hannah 
should  one  day  enter  into  a  closer  partnership. 

In  due  time  this  event  took  place,  and,  as  we  have  said, 
pretty  much  as  a  matter  of  course  ;  and  without  involving  for 
any  of  the  parties  a  great  change  in  the  even  tenor  of  their 
lives.  They  had  always  lived  beneath  the  same  roof,  and 
moved  in  the  same  circle  of  friends.  Their  simple  mode  of 
life  admitted  of  but  little  variety  ;  their  quiet  tempers  desired 
none.  Her  thoughts  were  given  to  the  duties  and  cares  of  an 
increasing  household  ;  his  to  the  demands  of  a  growing  busi 
ness.  They  sympathized  and  co-operated  with  each  other,  as 
far  as  the  relative  sphere  of  the  sexes  admitted,  lived  in  har 
mony  and  prosperity,  and  were  remarked  in  the  circle  of 
their  acquaintance,  as  an  exemplary,  respected,  and  happy 
couple. 

At  length  the  father  died,  and  Reuben  and  Hannah  suc 
ceeded  to  the  inheritance, — a  substantial,  one  might  say  large, 
property, — and  the  chief  control  of  an  extensive  business. 
This  event,  however,  changed  little  or  nothing  in  their  mode 
of  life ;  nothing  in  their  household  arrangements  and  habits. 
It  enlarged  their  means  of  active  usefulness  and  charity. 
Ruben  was  enabled  to  contribute  more  liberally  to  the  public 
objects  favored  by  the  yearly  meeting ;  and  Hannah's  private 
charities,  never  stinted,  became  more  frequent  and  'ample ; 
but  the  change  was  modestly  and  unostentatiously  made.  In 
a  year,  also,  a  sleek  pair  of  horses  and  a  four-wheeled  car 
riage  superseded  the  more  quiet  one-horse  chaise,  whch  had 
hitherto  served  their  purposes. 

The  most  considerable  change  that  took  place  in  Reuben's 
habits,  was  one  which,  as  he  conducted  it,  attracted  but  little 
public  attention  at  the  outset,  though  it  eventually  became  a 
matter  of  notoriety  and  remark.  Though  brought  up  to  a 
life  of  active  commerce,  and  succeeding  at  Mr.  Folger's  death 
to  the  entire  control  of  an  extensive  and  profitable  establish 
ment,  Reuben  was  wholly  free  from  the  ambition  of  enlarg- 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEKS.  35 

ing  his  operations,  or  rendering  his  commercial  house  more 
important  and  influential.  He  did  not  contract,  but  he  did 
not  extend  the  sphere  of  his  operations.  He  built  no  new 
ships,  and  engaged  in  no  large  speculations.  On  the  con 
trary,  he  invested  his  profits  and  the  increasing  surplus  of  his 
capital  in  real  estate,  and  that  not  always  of  a  very  produc 
tive  character.  In  a  word,  he  was  very  much  in  the  habit, 
when  he  had  two  or  three  thousand  dollars  to  invest,  of  buy 
ing  one  of  the  numerous  farms  which  are  constantly  on  sale 
in  this  part  of  the  country. 

Reuben  had  retained  the  possession  of  a  little  estate  of 
some  sixty  or  seventy  acres,  where  he  was  born  and  passed 
the  years  of  his  boyhood.  The  old  house,  the  old  trees,  the 
old  well,  the  still  older  rocks,  had  a  charm  for  him.  His 
very  first  accumulations  were  laid  out  in  purchasing  a  small 
adjoining  property.  As  his  means  increased,  he  successively 
made  the  acquisition  of  two  or  three  other  small  farms. 
Land  at  that  time,  and  in  that  neighborhood,  was  inexpensive. 
Railroads  were  unknown,  and  ten  miles  from  a  large  town 
there  were  few  farms  that  could  not  be  bought  for  twenty- 
five  dollars  an  acre,  some  for  much  less.  In  this  way,  at  the 
cost  of  a  few  thousand  dollars,  Reuben  had,  in  a  very  few 
years,  become  the  owner  of  six  or  eight  farms. 

It  was  a  period  of  unusual  vicissitude  in  the  commercial 
world.  The  Orders  in  Council  and  the  French  decrees  swept 
the  ocean  of  American  commerce,  and  brought  many  a  proud 
fortune  to  the  ground.  Reuben  was  prudent  and  was  fortu 
nate  ;  he  escaped  without  serious  loss,  but  was  confirmed  in 
his  preference  of  solid  investments,  and  his  aversion  to 
expanding  his  commercial  operations.  His  business  con 
tinued  to  yield  him  ample  returns,  but  he  still  invested  the 
surplus  in  real  estate.  As  the  grass  was  springing  up 
between  the  paving  stones  of  the  trading  cities,  it  was  not  to 
be  wondered  at,  that  he  should  prefer  good  farms  in  the  conn- 


36  THE  MOUNT  YEKNON  PAPERS. 

try,  to  stores  and  warehouses  in  the  large  towns,  and  so  Reu 
ben  annually  bought  more  farms. 

In  these  purchases  he  had  an  eye  of  course  principally  to 
his  own  interest ;  but  he  also  acted  not  seldom  from  other 
motives.  He  occasionally  bought  a  farm  to  oblige  a  neigh 
bor  or  friend.  When  the  squire  of  his  native  village  died, 
Heaving  five  children  and  considerable  debts,  Reuben  did 
what  no  one  else  was  willing,  and  few  were  able  to  do,  and 
bought  the  farm  for  a  fair  price,  though  he  was  the  only  pur 
chaser  in  the  neighborhood.  When  Obadiah  the  miller  died, 
and  left  a  lonely  widow  whose  only  daughter  and  child  was 
married  in  the  West,  Reuben  bought  the  little  homestead  to 
accommodate  her.  There  were  few  things  he  wanted  less 
than  a  grist  mill,  but  he  took  it  to  oblige  the  widow.  In 
short,  it  got  to  be  remarked,  that,  for  one  reason  or  another, 
Reuben  Mitchell  was  constantly  buying  farms ;  and  by  the 
time  he  was  forty  years  old,  he  owned  more  farms  than  any 
Friend  in  the  Yearly  Meeting. 

Now  these  farms  were  seldom  productive.  A  rural  ten 
antry  is  hardly  known  among  us  ;  the  land  is  not  sufficiently 
fertile  for  great  staple  crops,  which  admit  the  payment  of  a 
high  rent.  Some  of  Reuben's  farms  were  wholly  unoccupied, 
a  good  many  were  let  at  the  halves,  but  the  landlord's  half 
was  generally  very  small ;  on  some  of  the  farms,  especially 
those  purchased  from  charitable  and  friendly  motives,  the  for 
mer  proprietor  was  allowed  to  live,  not  seldom  on  a  nominal 
rent.  This  was  the  case  with  the  clergyman's  widow.  Her 
husband  had  left  her  in  straitened  circumstances  ;  but  Reuben, 
though  not  brought  up  greatly  to  respect  a  professional 
clergy,  considered  all  widows  and  orphans  as  belonging  to 
the  one  church  universal  of  Christian  brotherhood.  So  he 
bought  the  widow's  farm  for  a  handsome  price,  but  insisted 
on  her  still  occupying  it  at  a  moderate  rent,  which  was  never 
asked  for  and  never  paid. 

Thus  Reuben  Mitchell  became  the  proprietor  of  a  great 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  37 

many  farms,  a  circumstance  which,  as  most  of  them  must 
have  been  unprofitable,  began  to  excite  a  good  deal  of  atten 
tion  among  friends  and  neighbors,  and  finally  led  to  no  little 
wonderment  and  remark.  "  Dost  thee  know  why  friend 
Reuben  purchased  Jonah  Littlefield's  farm  ?  "  "  What  can 
be  friend  Reuben's  reason  for  investing  so  much  property  in 
real  estate,  which  brings  him  no  return  ?  "  These  were  ques 
tions  which  were  a  good  deal  mooted  ;  they  were  often  raised 
by  Friends  on  'change ;  they  were  started  in  private  circles, 
at  the  Yearly  Meeting.  But  Reuben  was  habitually  silent  as 
to  his  own  affidrs.  He  never  invited  conversation  on  these 
topics,  and  as  he  avoided  the  subject  himself,  no  one  under 
took  to  interrogate  him.  In  fact,  it  is  one  of  the  traditions 
of  Friends,  to  devote  yourself  principally  to  your  own  busi 
ness.  Some  pretty  fortunes  have  been  made  in  New  Bedford 
and  Nantucket  in  this  way.  The  credit  of  Friends  who  mind 
their  own  business  is  generally  A  No.  1  ;  whereas  Benaiah 
Busibody,  who  was  always  attending  to  the  business  of  others, 
never  could  get  his  long  paper  done  at  the  Rock-bottom 
Bank,  without  heavy  collateral.  When,  in  the  panic,  Benaiah 
had  to  ask  an  extension,  it  was  found,  on  examination  of  his 
affairs,  that  his  liabilities  amounted  to  fifty  thousand  dollars, 
and  that  his  assets  consisted  of  the  furniture  of  his  counting- 
room,  which,  however,  was  not  paid  for.  Benaiah  laid  the 
principal  blame  to  the  Rock-bottom  Bank,  which  he  declared 
was  in  the  hands  of  a  parcel  of  old  fogies,  who  confined  them 
selves  to  using  their  capital,  for  the  purpose  of  discounting 
good  business  paper,  whereas  the  real  province  of  a  bank,  in 
Benaiah's  opinion,  was,  to  employ  the  deposits  and  circulation 
(no  capital  being  necessary)  in  loans  to  the  directors,  to 
enable  them  to  speculate  in  railroad  bonds,  fancy  stocks,  (so 
called  because  no  man  of  sense  fancies  them,)  and  moonshine 
generally.  It  may  be  proper  to  state  here,  that  the  Editor 
and  Proprietor  of  the  New  York  Ledger  keeps  his  account  at 
the  Rock-bottom  Bank. 


38  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEItS. 

But  human  nature  is  human  nature ;  though  clothed  in 
drab  broadcloth  or  veiled  in  starched  muslin.  Notwithstand 
ing  the  general  habit  to  which  I  have  alluded,  which  prevents 
Friends  from  prying  too  closely  into  their  neighbors'  con 
cerns,  some  leading  questions  about  the  number  of  his  farms 
were  occasionally  put  to  Reuben  by  his  brethren  ;  and  more 
than  once  an  adventurous  sister,  disguising  a  burning  curios 
ity  under  an  air  of  quiet  sympathizing  pleasantry,  would  hint 
to  Hannah  with  a  smile,  that  she  did  not  believe  even  she 
could  tell  the  number  of  Reuben's  farms.  Hannah,  if  she 
knew,  never  did  tell. 

Meantime  the  number  went  on  steadily  increasing.  Reu 
ben  kept  up  his  business  establishment,  which  became  more 
and  more  lucrative ;  but  he  firmly  resisted  all  inducements 
to  extend  it  on  borrowed  capital,  and  as  resolutely  set  his 
face  against  speculations  of  every  other  kind.  Pie  would 
have  nothing  to  do  with  the  Bubbleville  Factory  or  the 
Grand  Trunk  Railroad,  which  was  intended  to  run  round  the 
skirts  of  Blue  Hill,  and  connect  the  Old  Colony,  Providence, 
and  Worcester  lines.  In  a  word,  he  did  nothing  but  buy 
more  farms. 

This  course  of  conduct  at  last  became  the  subject  of  seri 
ous  concernment,  and  Friends  began  to  speak  rather  plainly 
about  it.  Most  doubted  the  wisdom  of  these  acquisitions ; 
some  thought  it  downright  folly  to  purchase  unprofitable 
farms.  Some  of  the  world's  people  suspected  sinister  designs. 
Why  should  a  man  like  Reuben  Mitchell  wish  to  monopolize 
all  the  land  in  the  country  1  It  was  certainly  an  unusual 
thing  for  a  Quaker.  It  was  foreign  to  the  genius  of  our  polit 
ical  institutions,  and  contrary  to  the  first  principles  of 
republican  government.  It  was  a  first  and  a  dangerous  step 
towards  a  landed  aristocracy.  The  Columbian  Semi-weekly 
Mosquito  &  Hemisphere  came  out  with  a  stinging  Leader,  in 
which,  under  a  feigned  name,  Reuben  was  evidently  aimed  at. 

At  length,  as  Reuben  all  the  while  went  on  buying  more 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  39 

farms,  this  subject  began  to  be  pretty  loudly  talked  about  at 
Quarterly  Meeting  and  Yearly  Meeting ;  and  a  proposition 
was  seriously  made  in  a  private  circle  at  which  the  public 
business  was  arranged,  "  to  deal  with  Reuben  on  the  subject." 
This  was  overruled  by  the  older  brethren,  who  admitted, 
however,  that  they  felt  some  concern  on  the  subject.  One  of 
them  at  length,  who  had  for  years  been  a  business  friend  and 
a  near  neighbor  of  Reuben,  suggested  as  a  wise  course,  that 
some  judicious  friend  should  go  to  Reuben,  and  in  a  discreet 
and  prudent  manner,  converse  with  him,  and  in  fact  interro 
gate  him  on  the  subject.  This  counsel  found  great  favor  with 
the  brethren,  and  the  Friend  who  proposed  it, — Nahum  by 
name, — was  unanimously  requested  to  assume  the  office. 

Friend  Nahum  accordingly  contrived  as  soon  as  possible, 
to  fall  in  with  Reuben.  He  felt,  however,  even  in  exchanging 
salutations,  that  he  had  undertaken  a  somewhat  difficult  task. 
He  dwelt  rather  longer  on  the  topic  of  the  weather,  than  is 
customary  among  Friends,  and  prolonged  his  remarks  on  the 
prospects  of  the  whaling  season  and  the  price  of  oil  to  a  te 
dious  extent.  At  length,  clearing  his  throat,  he  approached  the 
difficult  topic  :  "  Friends  were  conversing, — Friends  had  often 
wondered, — several  Friends  from  a  distance  had  inquired  of 
him, — how  it  was  that  friend  Reuben  spent  so  much  money 
in  buying  farms ;  and  the  question  was  often  raised  how 
many  farms  friend  Reuben  really  owned ; — and  '  Thee  is 
aware,  friend  Reuben,'  continued  Nahum,  in  the  softest  tone, 
i  that  I  have  no  knowledge  on  the  subject,  and  I  have  thought 
I  would  just  inquire  of  thee,  what  I  shall  say  to  Friends,  who 
ask  me  how  many  farms  friend  Reuben  Mitchell  really 
owns.'  " 

Reuben  listened  to  these  remarks  with  calmness.  Though 
it  was  the  first  time  he  had  been  directly  questioned  on  the 
subject,  he  was  aware  that  the  number  of  his  farms  had  been 
a  matter  of  some  curiosity,  and  had  even  been  mooted  at  the 
formal  gatherings  of  Friends.  Considering  it  a  business  of 


40  THE  MOUNT  VERXON  PAPERS. 

his  own,  which  concerned  nobody  else,  he  did  not  feel  much 
disposed  to  gratify  this  curiosity.  It  was  one  of  his  maxims, 
that  the  best  way  to  have  your  secret  kept  is  not  to  tell  it. 
Accordingly  when  Friend  Nahum  ceased,  Reuben  remained 
silent  for  a  short  time,  reflecting  on  the  proper  reply.  He 
was  not  at  all  embarrassed,  but  hesitated  a  little  what  to  say. 
As  men  a  little  at  a  loss  are  apt  to  do,  he  looked  up  to  the 
ceiling  for  a  moment ;  looked  out  of  the  window  for  a  moment ; 
twirled  his  fingers ;  moved  his  lips  silently  without  any 
definite  object ;  and  counted  the  fingers  of  his  left  hand  with 
the  forefinger  of  his  right.  These  movements  were  almost 
unconsciously  made;  but  Friend  Nahum's  imagination  was 
excited;  and  he  attached  a  great  significance  to  Reuben's 
manner  and  motions.  He  thought  that,  by  way  of  prepar 
ing  an  accurate  answer,  Reuben  was  counting  up  the  number 
of  his  farms  on  his  fingers. 

In  this  he  was  altogether  mistaken.  Reuben  in  a  moment 
or  two  roused  himself  from  his  reverie  and  said, "  The  number 
of  the  farms  is  indeed  considerable  ;  not  so  great  perhaps  as 
some  Friends  suppose ;  but  larger  than  may  be  thought  by 
others.  Friends  thee  says,  are  desirous  of  knowing  the  num 
ber,  and  thee  has  done  wisely,  Friend  Nahum,  not  to  attempt 
to  give  it  at  a  venture.  It  is  important  Friends  should  not 
be  misinformed.  If  thee  states  the  number  too  high,  thee 
gives  an  exaggerated  idea  of  my  means,  and  perhaps  causes 
the  tax-gatherer  to  raise  my  assessment.  If  thee  states  too 
few,  Friends  will  not  believe  thee ;  and  in  either  case  thee 
errest  from  the  truth." 

These  guarded  remarks  raised  Nahum's  curiosity  to  the 
highest  pitch.  He  rejoiced  at  the  same  time  at  what  he  con 
sidered  the  certain  success  of  his  efforts  to  solve  the  great 
mystery.  He  eagerly  assented  to  Reuben's  reflections.  He 
warmly  and  earnestly  responded  to  his  remark,  that  it  was 
very  important  to  avoid  any  mistake.  He  was  fully  confirm 
ed  in  his  idea  that  Reuben's  momentary  hesitation  in  replying 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS.  4:1 

arose  from  a  wish  to  reckon  up  the  exact  number ;  and  to 
prevent  any  lapse  of  memory,  he  took  out  his  memorandum- 
book  and  pencil,  and  wrote  the  words  "  Fourth  month,  third 
day,  number  of  Friend  Reuben's  farms," — and  then  paused 
with  a  look  of  intense  expectation,  to  write  down  the  figures 
from  Reuben's  lips. 

Reuben  still  hesitated  a  moment ; — Nahum,  with  a  most 
insinuating  smile,  renewed  the  question,  "  What  shall  I  tell 
Friends  who  inquire  how  many  farms  thee  has  ? "  And  Reu 
ben  replied,  "  In  order  to  make  the  number  neither  too  large 
nor  too  small,  it  will  be  safest  for  thee,  when  Friends  next  in 
quire,  to  tell  them  thee  does  not  know." 


1STUMBEK     FIVE. 

THE   COMET. 

Visit  to  the  Observatory  at  Cambridge  on  the  6th  of  October— Description  of  the 
evening — Position  of  the  Comet  and  its  appearance  through  the  Comet-seeker — 
Drawings  by  Mr.  George  P.  Bond  and  Mr.  Fette — Appearance  of  the  Comet 
through  the  great  refractor — Professor  Lovering's  experiments  with  the  Polari- 
scope— The  Cluster  in  the  Constellation  Hercules— Kemarks  of  Professor  Nichol 
—The  Penny  Cyclopedia— History  of  Donati's  Comet— Its  period— Its  rapid  devel 
opment—Progress  of  Astronomy  in  the  United  States — Remark  of  Gibbon — 
Comets  no  longer  subjects  of  alarm — Beautiful  reflections  of  Addison — Apostrophe 
to  the  Comet. 

ON  the  6th  of  October  last  I  visited  the  Observatory  at 
Cambridge,  accompanied  by  the  accomplished  and  efficient 
Vice  Regent  of  the  Ladies'  Mount  Vernon  Association  for  the 
State  of  New  York,  Mary  Morris  Hamilton  (granddaughter 
of  Alexander  Hamilton),  then  on  a  visit  in  this  neighborhood. 
I  had  asked  permission  the  day  before  of  the  venerable  Direc 
tor  of  the  Observatory,  William  C.  Bond,  to  make  this  visit. 
Even  with  this  precaution,  it  was  not  without  hesitation  that  I 
allowed  myself,  for  a  half  hour,  to  divert  to  the  gratification  of 
a  curiosity,  however  natural  and  laudable,  any  of  the  precious 
moments  which,  when  employed  by  the  skilful  observer  in 
the  use  of  a  powerful  telescope,  are  so  important  to  science. 
No  one  ought  to  visit  a  first-class  Observatory,  without  re 
membering  that,  while  he  is  gratifying  his  taste  by  contem 
plating  the  heavens  through  an  instrument  like  the  great 
Equatorial  at  Cambridge,  he  is  wasting  the  time  of  men  of  the 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  43 

highest  eminence,  and  misapplying  (to  all  scientific  intents) 
one  of  the  most  powerful  refractors  in  the  world.  But  the 
temptation  to  behold  this  most  extraordinary  celestial  phe 
nomenon,  the  like  of  which  has  been  seen  but  once  before  in 
my  day,  and  in  all  human  probability  will  not  be  seen  again 
in  this  generation,  was  so  strong  as  to  overcome  all  scruples 
of  delicacy. 

It  was  a  serene  October  evening,  admirably  adapted  for 
observation.  The  sun  set  without  a  cloud,  and  the  heavens? 
if  less  magnificent  than  when  hung  with  the  gorgeous  drapery 
which  sometimes  decks  the  evening  sky,  were  of  course  far 
better  prepared  for  the  inspection  of  the  wonderful  visitant. 
Venus  was  the  evening  star.  The  air  was  still,  and  free  from 
that  tremulousness  which  so  often  disturbs  observations  near 
the  horizon.  The  light  of  the  moon,  new  that  day,  was  too 
faint  to  interfere  with  that  of  the  portentous  stranger,  which? 
in  his  headlong  course  toward  the  sun,  had  left  Arcturus  five 
degrees  behind,  and  was  rushing  to  his  perihelion,  at  the  rate 
of  a  hundred  and  thirty  millions  of  miles  an  hour. 

The  appearance  of  the  heavens  as  the  sun  went  down,  and 
a  fainter  twilight  diffused  itself  over  the  sky,  was  most  im 
pressive  ; — the  gradual  fading  into  obscurity  of  the  terrestrial 
landscape, — at  last  the  vanishing  of  all  the  details  of  village, 
field,  and  lake,  under  the  broad  and  shadowy  wings  of  night, 
leaving  nothing  visible  but  the  larger  dark  masses, — spread 
ing  tree,  church,  and  distant  line  of  hills.  Then  came  the 
apparition,  one  by  one,  of  the  heavenly  luminaries ;  the  thin 
sharp  edge  of  the  new  moon, — Hesperus  dropping  diamonds 
and  pearls  from  his  imperial  brow, — the  magnificent  stars  of 
the  higher  magnitudes  in  this  region,  whose  uncouth  Arabic 
names  Mizar,  Alioth,  Mirach,  give  so  strange  an  aspect  to  the 
chart  of  the  heavens,  emerging  from  the  gloom — and  then,  as 
the  night  advanced,  in  glittering  succession  those  of  inferior 
size,  down  to  the  smallest  that  can  be  discerned  by  the  naked 
eye,  till  at  length  the  whole  concave  was  lighted  up  with  its 


44:  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

sparkling  glories.     It  was  an  evening  to  make  one  feel  the 
solemn  significance  of  that  glorious  sonnet  of  Blanco  White  : 

Mysterious  night !  when  our  first  parent  knew 
Thee  from  report  divine,  and  heard  thy  name, 
Did  he  not  tremble  for  this  goodly  frame, 
This  glorious  canopy  of  light  and  blue  ? 
Yet  'neath  a  curtain  of  translucent  dew, 
Bathed  in  the  rays  of  the  great  setting  flame, 
Hesperus  with  the  host  of  Heaven  came, 
And  lo  !  creation  widened  in  man's  view  ! 
Who  could  have  thought  such  darkness  lay  concealed 
Within  thy  beams,  0  Sun !   or  who  could  find, 
Whilst  fly,  and  leaf  and  insect  stood  revealed, 
That  to  such  countless  orbs  thou  mad'st  us  blind. 
Why  do  we  then  shun  death  with  anxious  strife  ; 
If  light  can  thus  deceive,  why  may  not  life  ? 

The  great  telescope,  when  we  went  into  the  Observatory, 
was  in  the  occupation  of  Mr.  George  P.  Bond,  the  son  and 
assistant  of  the  Director,  who  has  already  acquired  a  brilliant 
reputation  as  an  observer,  and  unites  to  it  that  of  a  skilful 
geometer.  He  was,  at  this  time,  with  the  aid  of  Mr.  H.  G. 
Fette,  preparing  the  materials  for  those  magnificent  drawings, 
which  have  been  engraved  on  steel  with  extreme  beauty,  to 
illustrate  Mr.  Bond's  article  on  the  comet,  in  the  second  and 
third  numbers  of  the  "  Mathematical  Monthly."  We  willingly 
employed  the  time  till  we  could  look  through  the  large  instru 
ment,  in  gazing  at  the  comet  with  the  naked  eye,  or  through 
a  glass  of  ordinary  power.  Seen  in  either  way  it  was  an  ob 
ject  never  to  be  forgotten.  The  nucleus  was  nearly  equal  to 
its  neighbor  Arcturus  in  brightness,  and  the  curving  tail  shot 
upward  through  about  fifty  degrees,  a  length  of  forty-five 
millions  of  miles,  or  half  the  distance  of  the  earth  from  the 
sun.  In  addition  to  the  principal  tail  of  the  comet,  on  the 
evening  of  the  6th,  a  fainter  pencil  of  rays  streamed  up 
ward  from  the  head,  nearly  on  a  line  from  the  sun,  to  a  height 
of  fifty  degrees,  passing  directly  between  the  exterior  stars  of 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  45 

the  "  Northern  Crown."  This  strange  appendage  was  hardly 
visible  to  the  naked  eye,  except  of  the  practised  observer. 

The  appearance  of  the  comet  through  the  comet-seeker 
was  extremely  beautiful,  especially  in  consequence  of  the 
brightness  of  the  stars  seen  through  the  tail,  and  that  too  very 
near  the  nucleus.  In  fact,  to  persons  not  accustomed  to  look 
through  powerful  glasses,  and  consequently  not  making  due 
allowance  for  their  effect,  in  diminishing  the  field  of  view,  the 
comet-seeker  exhibits  the  object,  as  far  as  general  effect  goes, 
more  impressively  than  the  great  refractor. 

At  length  the  drawings  for  that  evening  were  completed, 
and  we  were  invited  in  our  turns  to  the  observing-chair,  it 
self  an  admirable  piece  of  mechanism,  the  contrivance  of  Mr. 
Bond,  Senior.  It  would  be  impossible  within  the  limits  of  a 
paper  like  this,  were  I  otherwise  qualified  for  the  task,  to  do 
any  justice  to  the  appearances  which  presented  themselves 
through  the  great  magnifier,  in  the  surface  of  the  comet  and 
in  the  region  surrounding  it.  They  are  not  only  minutely  and 
graphically  described  in  the  Memoir  of  Mr.  George  P.  Bond 
above  referred  to  ;  but  they  are  illustrated  by  two  admirable 
engravings  on  steel,  from  drawings  executed  from  sketches 
taken  by  the  aid  of  the  great  refractor,  one  by  Mr.  George 
P.  Bond,  and  the  other  by  Mr.  Fette.  Both  are  beautiful ; 
but  the  former  appears  to  me  the  most  admirably  executed 
work  of  the  kind  I  have  ever  seen ;  not  only  far  beyond  any 
European  drawing  or  engraving  of  this  comet,  which  has  yet 
reached  us,  but  superior  to  any  foreign  drawings  and  engrav 
ings  of  any  celestial  phenomena ;  those,  for  instance,  in  Sir 
John  Herschel's  splendid  work,  "  The  Result  of  Astronomical 
Observations  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope."  The  drawings  and 
engravings  in  that  fine  volume,  though  executed  at  the  expense 
of  a  munificent  patron  (the  Duke  of  Northumberland),  and 
by  the  most  skilful  English  artists,  are  inferior  to  the  draw 
ings  of  Messrs.  Bond  and  Fette,  engraved  by  J.  W.  Watts  at 
Boston  for  the  Mathematical  Monthly. 


46  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPEES. 

But  though  it  would  be  impossible,  in  this  place,  to 
give  an  adequate  description  of  the  apparent  condition  of 
the  surface  of  the  comet,  as  seen  through  the  great  tele 
scope,  some  idea  of  it  may  be  formed  from  the  observa 
tion,  that  it  was  in  a  state  of  intense  action  and  violent  move 
ment.  An  active  evolution  of  the  particles  of  matter,  of  which 
the  comet  is  composed,  was  evidently  in  progress ;  not  one 
of  steady  radiation  but  of  reciprocating  effervescence ; — a 
superficial  condition,  which  distinguishes  the  comet  from  all 
the  other  celestial  luminaries. 

Feeling  too  sensibly  the  value  of  the  privilege  we  were 
enjoying,  to  monopolize  it  for  any  length  of  time,  we  soon 
gave  up  our  seats  at  the  glass  to  one  or  two  other  visitors ; 
among  them  to  Professor  Lovering,  who  made  some  curious 
observations  writh  Savart's  Polariscope,  which  enabled  him  to 
pronounce,  with  confidence,  that  the  comet  is  a  body  shining 
principally  at  least  with  reflected  light. 

After  all  the  persons  present  had  had  an  opportunity  of 
looking  at  the  comet  through  the  great  refractor,  desirous 
that  my  companion,  wTho  had  never  had  an  opportunity  of 
looking  through  a  telescope  of  the  greatest  power  (as,  indeed, 
few  persons  have),  should  enjoy  such  an  opportunity  at  this 
time,  I  requested  Mr.  Bond  to  point  the  glass  to  the  cluster 
in  Hercules,  wihch  I  have  ever  regarded,  as,  upon  the  whole, 
the  most  interesting  of  the  stellar  phenomena.  With  the 
naked  eye  you  see  nothing  ;  with  a  glass  of  moderate  force 
you  see  a  nebulous  speck  ;  under  a  very  high  power,  you  be 
hold  a  group  literally  of  thousands  of  stars.  When  you  re 
flect,  that  each  of  these  stars  is  a  sun  like  our  own,  and  as  far 
as  we  can  reason  analogically,  the  centre  of  a  solar  system  like 
that  to  which  we  belong,  the  most  vigorous  imagination  sinks 
under  the  stupendous  number  and  magnitude  of  the  Universes 
comprehended  in  the  cluster  of  Hercules.  It  is  in  reference 
to  this  cluster,  of  which  he  gives  a  striking  engraved  illustra- 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS.  47 

tion,  that  Dr.  Nichol,  in  his  "  Architecture  of  the  Heavens," 
makes  the  following  impressive  remarks : 

"  Confirming  by  emphatic  analogies  his  conceptions  of  the  character 
of  our  Stellar  System,  Herschel  discovered  that  beyond  it,  among  the 
spaces  to  which  its  own  stars  do  not  reach,  other  gorgeous  clusters  are 
resting,  separated  from  each  other  and  from  ours  by  gulfs,  with  which 
the  distances  between  the  different  suns  around  us  are  no  more  com 
parable,  then  our  small  units  on  earth  are  with  them.  One  of  these  stu 
pendous  systems  [the  cluster  in  Hercules]  is  fully  represented  in  plate 
number  I.  as  it  might  appear  to  the  most  powerful  of  our  instruments. 
Even  to  a  good  telescope  it  is  only  like  a  speck ;  but  what  mind  shall 
imagine  the  glories,  the  varieties  of  being  that  speck  must  contain! 
Such,  our  earliest  glance  of  this  new  perspective :  system  on  system  of 
majesty  unspeakable  floating  through  that  fathomless  ocean :  ours,  with 
splendors  that  seemed  illimitable,  only  an  unit  amid  unnumbered  throngs, 
we  can  think  of  it  in  comparison  with  creation,  but  as  we  were  wont  to 
think  of  one  of  its  own  stars." 

The  "  Penny  Cyclopaedia,"  of  which  the  scientific  articles 
appear,  for  the  most  part,  to  be  executed  by  very  able  hands, 
dismisses  the  Constellation  Hercules  with  this  remark :  "  This 
Constellation  is  situated  between  Draco,  Bootes,  Lyra,  and 
Orphiuchus ;  but  as  there  is  no  star  in  it  larger  than  of  the 
third  magnitude,  there  is  nothing  very  remarkable  about  it" 
NOTHING  VERY  REMARKABLE  ABOUT  IT  !  only  a  mighty  group, 
not  of  suns  alone,  but  of  the  solar  systems  which  depend  up 
on  them.  Nothing  but  ten  thousand  Universes,  invisible  to 
the  naked  eye,  but  revealed,  in  the  depths  of  the  heavens,  by 
a  powerful  glass,  within  the  limits  of  this  Constellation ! 
Nothing  very  remarkable  ! 

But  to  return  to  the  comet.  On  the  2d  of  June,  1858, 
it  was  seen  as  a  faint  nebulosity  by  Professor  Donati  at  Flor 
ence,  in  Italy,  near  the  star  Lambda,  in  the  Constellation  of  the 
Lion.  Its  distance  from  the  sun  was  then  about  two  hundred 
millions  of  miles  ; — that  from  the  earth  still  greater.  Donati 
at  first  doubted  whether  this  comet  was  not  the  same  as  that 
discovered  in  this  country  in  May,  by  Mr.  H.  P.  Tuttle  of 


48  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

the  Cambridge  Observatory.  Such,  of  course,  was  not  the 
case,  but  as  soon  as  the  disappearance  of  the  moon  admitted 
good  observations,  it  was  detected  nearly  at  the  same  time  by 
three  Astronomers  in  the  United  States,  each  observer  being 
ignorant  of  Donati's  discovery.  It  was  seen  by  Mr.  H.  P. 
Tuttle  at  Cambridge  on  the  evening  of  the  28th  of  June,  and 
an  accurate  determination  of  its  place  made  the  same  night  at 
the  Observatory  in  that  place.  On  the  29th  it  was  discovered 
by  II.  M.  Parkhurst,  Esq.,  at  Perth  Amboy,  in  New  Jersey, 
and  on  the  1st  of  July  by  Miss  Mitchell  of  Nantucket, — the 
lady  who  had  the  good  fortune  to  gain  the  Comet  Medal  of 
the  King  of  Denmark,  for  the  first  discovery  of  a  telescopic 
comet  in  1847,  and  the  only  lady  to  whom  that  medal  was 
ever  given. 

Some  difficulty  was  at  first  experienced  in  fixing  upon  the 
probable  path  of  the  comet,  but  by  the  middle  of  August  its 
future  course  and  the  great  increase  of  brightness  which  would 
take  place  as  it  approached  the  sun  had  been  ascertained  with 
certainty.  It  was  still,  however,  invisible  to  the  naked  eye, 
and  distinguishable  from  other  telescopic  comets  only  by  the 
slowness  of  its  motion  and  the  vivid  light  of  its  nucleus. 
Traces  of  a  tail  were  seen  on  the  20th  of  August,  and  on  the 
29th  it  appeared  to  the  naked  eye  as  a  hazy  star.  For  a  few 
weeks  it  was  seen  both  in  the  morning  and  evening  sky,  which 
led  some  to  the  opinion  that  there  were  two  comets.  It  was 
at  this  time  also  supposed  by  some  persons  to  be  identical 
with  the  comet  of  1264  and  of  1556.  It  has  since  been  as 
certained  that  it  is  moving  in  an  orbit  (according  to  the  mean 
of  six  calculations)  of  2,156  years,  consequently  that  if  ever 
seen  before  by  man,  it  was  in  the  year  298  before  our  era, — 
two  years  before  the  capture  of  Athens  by  Demetrius  Polior- 
cetes,  and  just  a  quarter  of  a  century  after  the  death  of  Alex 
ander  the  Great. 

On  the  6th  of  September  the  curvature  of  the  train  was 
noticed  for  the  first  time,  which  afterward  acquired  such  ex- 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  49 

pansion,  and  constituted  one  of  the  most  remarkable  features 
of  the  comet.  The  streamers  detached  from  the  principal 
train  first  appeared  on  the  25th  September,  and  increased  in 
number  and  length  ;  and  a  succession  of  most  extraordinary, 
and  some  of  them  never  before  observed  phenomena  in  the 
nucleus,  in  its  immediate  surroundings,  and  in  the  train,  fur 
nished  matter  of  observation  the  most  intensely  interesting 
and  curious,  till  the  comet  had  passed  its  perihelion.  It  was 
brightest  on  the  5th  of  October,  the  day  before  I  saw  it. — Mr. 
George  Bond,  in  drawing  to  a  close  the  admirable  Memoir  to 
which  I  have  already  alluded,  and  from  which  such  portions 
of  this  paper  as  were  not  matters  of  personal  observation  have 
been  taken,  says  : 

"The  Comet  of  Donati,  although  surpassed  by  many  others  in  size, 
has  not  often  been  equalled  in  the  intensity  of  the  light  of  the  nucleus. — 
It  would  be  difficult  to  instance  any  one  of  its  predecessors,  which  has 
combined  so  many  attractive  features." 

There  is  no  branch  of  science  in  which  the  United  States 
have  made  more  rapid  and  substantial  progress  than  in 
Astronomy.  Our  observatories,  observers,  and  geometers, 
now  take  rank  with  those  of  Europe.  Gibbon,  after  his  mag 
nificent  enumeration  of  the  seven  appearances  of  the  comet  of 
1680,  given  in  his  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
adds,  "  at  the  eighth  period,  in  the  year  two  thousand  two 
hundred  and  fifty-five,  the  calculations  of  Bernouilli,  Newton, 
and  Kalley,  may  perhaps  be  verified  by  the  astronomers  of 
some  future  capital  in  the  Siberian  or  American  wilderness." 
It  is  a  somewhat  singular  circumstance,  that,  at  a  date  nearly 
four  hundred  years  in  advance  of  that  assumed  by  Gibbon, 
the  two  largest  refracting  telescopes  in  the  world  are  found, 
the  one  in  Russia,  and  the  other  in  America ;  and  in  either 
country  a  degree  of  astronomical  skill  equal  to  the  highest 
operations  of  the  science. 


50  THE  MOUNT  YEKNON  PAPERS. 

I  had  a  good  deal  more,  when  I  commenced  this  paper, 
which  I  wished  to  say  on  the  subject  of  the  Observatory  at 
Cambridge,  and  the  labors  and  discoveries  of  its  director  and 
his  assistants.  I  could  not,  however,  do  justice  to  the  topic  in 
the  space  which  remains  to  me  in  this  number,  and  I  must  re 
serve  it  for  a  future  opportunity. 

We  have  reason  to  be  grateful  that,  in  the  progress  of 
science,  the  superstitious  alarms,  once  excited  by  the  appear 
ance  of  comets,  have  wholly  ceased  to  be  felt  by  well-inform 
ed  persons.  On  one  occasion  when  a  comet  was  approaching 
its  perihelion,  it  was  said  that  the  directors  of  the  Bank  of 
England  requested  the  municipal  authority  to  station  fire- 
engines  in  Threadneedle  street.  It  is  now  supposed  by  as 
tronomers  that  the  earth  might  pass  through  the  tail  of  a 
comet,  and  that  fact  not  be  perceived  by  its  inhabitants.  The 
comet  is  the  body  which  would  suffer  by  the  collision.  That 
of  Lexell  so  called  was  wholly  deflected  from  its  orbit  in  1767, 
by  coming  within  the  attraction  of  Jupiter,  which  does  not  ap 
pear  to  have  been  in  the  least  affected  by  the  approach  of  the 
comet.  But  even  if  a  collision  were  likely  to  prove  disastrous 
to  our  planet,  we  have  no  more  reason  to  apprehend  that  pre 
cise  derangement  in  the  order  of  the  universe,  as  established 
by  Creative  wisdom  and  goodness,  than  we  have  to  apprehend 
any  other  imaginable  catastrophe. 

The  following  thoughts  by  Addison,  in  the  Guardian,  on 
the  comet  of  1680,  are  so  just  and  so  beautifully  expressed, 
that  I  am  persuaded  they  will  be  acceptable  to  the  reader  : 

"I  seldom  see  any  thing  that  raises  wonder  in  me,  which  does  not 
give  my  thoughts  a  turn  that  makes  my  heart  the  better  for  it.  As 
I  was  lying  in  my  bed,  and  ruminating  on  what  I  had  seen,  I  could  not 
forbear  reflecting  on  the  insignificancy  of  human  art,  when  set  in  com 
parison  with  the  designs  of  Providence.  In  the  pursuit  of  this  thought 
I  considered  a  comet,  or  in  the  language  of  the  vulgar,  a  blazing  star, 
as  a  sky-rocket  discharged  by  a  hand  that  is  almighty.  Many  of  my 
readers  saw  that  in  the  year  1680,  and  if  they  are  not  mathematicians, 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  51 

will  be  amazed  to  hear  that  it  travelled  in  a  much  greater  degree  of 
swiftness  than  a  cannon  ball,  and  drew  after  it  a  tail  of  fire  that  was  four 
score  millions  of  miles  in  length.  What  an  amazing  thought  is  it  to 
consider  this  stupendous  body  traversing  the  immensity  of  the  creation 
with  such  a  rapidity,  and  at  the  same  time  wheeling  about  in  that  line 
which  the  Almighty  has  prescribed  for  it  ?  That  it  should  move  in  such 
an  inconceivable  fury  and  combustion,  and  at  the  same  time  with 
such  an  exact  regularity  ?  How  spacious  must  the  universe  be  that 
gives  such  bodies  as  these  their  full  play,  without  suffering  the  least  dis 
order  or  confusion  by  it?  What  a  glorious  show  are  those  Beings 
entertained  with,  that  can  look  into  this  great  theatre  of  nature,  and 
see  myriads  of  such  tremendous  objects  wandering  through  those  im 
measurable  depths  of  Ether,  and  running  their  appointed  courses?  Our 
eyes  may  hereafter  be  strong  enough  to  command  this  magnificent  pros 
pect,  and  our  understandings  able  to  find  out  the  several  uses  of  these 
great  parts  of  the  universe.  In  the  mean  time  they  are  very  proper 
objects  for  our  imaginations  to  contemplate,  that  we  may  form  more 
exalted  notions  of  infinite  wisdom  and  power,  and  learn  to  think  humbly 
of  ourselves,  and  of  all  the  little  works  of  human  invention." 

Eeturn,  then,  mysterious  traveller,  to  the  depths  of  the 
heavens,  never  again  to  be  seen  by  the  eyes  of  men  now 
living !  Thou  hast  run  thy  race  with  glory  ;  millions  of  eyes 
have  gazed  upon  thee  with  wonder ;  but  they  shall  never  look 
upon  thee  again.  Since  thy  last  appearance  in  these  lower 
skies,  empires,  languages,  and  races  of  men  have  passed  away ; 
— the  Macedonian,  the  Alexandrian,  the  Augustan,  the  Par 
thian,  the  Byzantine,  the  Saracenic,  the  Ottoman  dynasties' 
sunk  or  sinking  into  the  gulf  of  ages.  Since  thy  last  appear 
ance,  old  continents  have  relapsed  into  ignorance,  and  new 
worlds  have  come  out  from  behind  the  veil  of  waters.  The 
Magian  fires  are  quenched  on  the  hill-tops  of  Asia ;  the  Chal 
dean  seer  is  blind ;  the  Egyptian  hierogrammatist  has  lost  his 
cunning ;  the  oracles  are  dumb.  Wisdom  now  dwells  in 
furthest  Thule,  or  in  newly-discovered  worlds  beyond  the  sea. 
Haply  when,  wheeling  up  again  from  the  celestial  abysses, 
thou  art  once  more  seen  by  the  dwellers  on  earth,  the  Ian- 


52  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

guages  we  speak  shall  also  be  forgotten,  and  science  shall 
have  fled  to  the  uttermost  corners  of  the  earth.  But  even 
there  His  Hand,  that  now  marks  out  thy  wondrous  circuit, 
shall  still  guide  thy  course ;  and  then  as  now  Hesper  will 
smile  at  thy  approach,  and  Arcturus  with  his  sons  rejoice  at 
thy  coming. 


NUMBER    SIX. 

AN   INCURSION  INTO  THE  EMPIRE  STATE. 

PART     I. 

Extra  clothing  prepared  for  the  journey  and  the  result — Sandwiches  as'compared  with 
a  hasty  dinner  at  an  inn — Sixty  cents  saved  and  proposed  investment  for  it — Six 
hours  comfortably  spent  at  Albany — Sleeping  cars  and  the  excellence  of  their 
arrangements — Unexpected  obstacle  to  the  enjoyment  of  their  full  benefit — Arri 
val  at  Canandaigua — The  great  land  purchase  of  Gorham  and  Phelps. 

BEING  under  engagement  to  repeat  my  Address  on  the 
Character  of  Washington,  at  two  or  three  places,  in  the  west 
ern  part  of  the  State  of  New  York,  circumstances  had  pre 
vented  my  keeping  the  appointment  till  the  middle  of  Decem 
ber.  I  must  confess  that  I  looked  forward  to  the  expedition 
with  some  anxiety.  A  journey  of  a  thousand  miles  into  the 
lake  region,  at  this  season  of  the  year,  to  be  made  in  six  days, 
on  three  of  which  a  discourse  of  two  hours'  length  was  to  be 
pronounced,  is,  to  a  person  who  has  reached  the  age  of  , — 
but  no  matter  about  that, — a  pretty  serious  affair.  On  taking 
counsel  with  a  judicious  friend  upon  the  subject,  he  advised  me, 
above  all  things,  to  take  on  me  and  with  me,  an  extra  supply  of 
warm  clothing,  and,  if  I  had  occasion,  as  I  certainly  should,  to 
travel  in  the  night,  to  be  sure  to  get  a  berth  in  one  of  the 
sleeping-cars.  I  promised  to  follow  his  advice  on  both  points. 

With  respect  to  the  first,  I  was  already  well  provided  with 
an  ample  supply  of  the  accustomed  articles  of  clothing,  exter 
nal  and  internal,  of  the  warmest  materials  and  closest  tissues. 


54  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPEES. 

But  following  my  friend's  advice,  and  looking  forward  to  the 
exposure  of  the  journey,  I  laid  in  an  extra  supply,  better 
adapted  to  a  voyage  of  Arctic  exploration,  than  to  a  trip  into 
the  State  of  New  York.  It  consisted  of  a  supplementary  pair 
of  overalls,  made  of  pilot  cloth,  and  well  lined  with  thick  cot 
ton,  a  dreadnought  cloak  also  lined  and  wadded,  a  sea-otter 
tippet,  the  gift  of  a  kind  friend,  which  Dr.  Hayes  might  have 
envied,  a  pair  of  very  warm  gauntlets,  lined  with  vicuna,  and 
a  voluminous  Bay  State  shawl.  These  preparations  for  the 
wintry  journey  had  not  been  made  without  fitting  domestic 
advisement. 

At  length  the  appointed  day  arrived,  and  clad  in  all  these 
habiliments,  which  had  the  effect  of  duplicating  my  *;  apparent 
diameter "  to  the  naked  eye,  I  took  my  seat  in  the  car  for 
Albany.  A  few  moments  only  elapsed,  before  I  perceived 
that  the  atmosphere  was  far  from  being  of  that  boreal  severi 
ty,  which  I  had  taken  for  granted,  when,  in  the  chill  of  the 
early  morning,  I  had  hurried  on  my  ample  stock  of  garments, 
ordinary  and  extraordinary.  On  the  contrary  it  was,  for  the 
middle  of  December,  a  moderate  day  out-doors ;  the  weather, 
mingled  snow  and  rain,  settling  down  into  the  latter.  Within 
the  car,  to  take  off  the  chill,  we  had  a  stove,  kept  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  time  near  a  red  heat.  1  soon  felt  more  as 
if  I  was  already  in  the  tropics,  than  upon  a  journey  in  the 
direction  of  Canada.  Before  long  I  was  obliged  to  commence 
the  operation  of  laying  aside  one  article  after  another ;  first 
the  India-rubber  overshoes  which  were  parboiling  my  feet, 
then  the  warm  vicuna  gloves,  then  the  splendid  sea-otter  tip 
pet,  then  the  ample  folds  of  the  Bay  State  shawl,  then  the 
lined  and  wadded  cloak,  very  much  as  the  grave-digger  in 
Hamlet  divests  himself  of  the  traditionary  score  of  jackets. 
I  would  gladly  have  got  rid  of  the  pilot-cloth  overalls,  but  as 
I  had  only  half  a  seat  in  a  crowded  car  for  a  dressing-room,  I 
did  not  attempt  that  critical  operation.  When  I  had  thrown 
off  the  last  article  of  extra  clothing,  which  could  conveniently 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  55 

be  laid  aside,  I  Avas  a  little  disconcerted  at  the  indifferent  suc 
cess  of  my  experiment  in  dressing  for  the  season. 

In  other  respects,  I  made  the  journey  to  Albany  most 
comfortably,  especially  after  the  youth,  who  sells  what  he 
calls  "  meggyzines,"  had  passed  through  the  car  with  the 
"  New  York  Ledger,"  without  which  the  traveller  might  as 
well  stay  at  home  ;  and  with  which,  he  that  stays  at  home  has 
about  as  fair  a  chance  to  improve  his  mind,  as  those  that 
travel.  This  comfortable  condition  wras  further  owing,  in  no 
small  degree,  to  a  liberal  supply  of  sandwiches,  prepared  by 
neat  and  bountiful  hands  before  I  left  home,  and  carefully  be 
stowed  in  my  travelling-bag.  I  am  surprised  to  see  how  few 
travellers  avail  themselves  of  this  resource,  on  a  journey,  for, 
if  there  is  nominally  a  place  for  dining,  you  are  nearly  sure 
to  arrive  at  an  unusual  and  inconvenient  time,  whereas  you 
take  your  sandwiches  at  your  accustomed  hour,  or  just  as  you 
want  them.  For  instance,  if,  in  passing  East  or  West,  you 
leave  your  seat  in  the  car  to  dine  at  Springfield,  in  Massachu 
setts,  you  find  indeed  a  very  good  dinner  prepared  at  the 
Massasoit,  for  which  you  are  allowed  twenty  minutes.  The 
operations  of  placing  your  shawl  and  bag  carefully  in  your 
seat  by  way  of  retainer,  of  finding  your  way  into  the  house,  of 
washing  and  brushing,  occupy  the  first  five  minutes  of  your 
time.  The  fear  of  being  left  behind  makes  you  hurry  from 
the  table  five  minutes  before  the  time  is  up.  In  the  remain 
ing  ten  minutes  you  bolt  your  dinner,  pay  your  seventy-five 
cents,  and  returning  to  the  car,  find  that  your  shawl  and 
travelling-bag  have  been  piled  into  another  seat  by  a  lady  and 
gentleman  (?)  who  have  in  your  absence  helped  themselves  to 
yours.  The  sandwiches  on  the  contrary,  as  I  have  said,  can 
be  taken  when  you  please,  and  eaten  leisurely,  which  your 
doctor  will  tell  you  is  the  best  sauce  to  your  dinner.  Besides 
this,  they  will  not  cost  you,  at  the  outside,  over  fifteen  cents,  so 
that  you  have  made  a  comfortable  meal  and  saved  sixty  cents. 

Having  helped  you  to  save  this  handsome  sum,  I  ought  to 


56  THE  MOUNT  VEKNOST  PAPEKS. 

tell  you  how  to  invest  it  to  advantage.  Ten  cents  of  it  you 
will  want  to  pay  the  boy  \vho  takes  your  valise  to  the  hotel 
in  Albany.  With  the  remaining  half  dollar,  I  should  advise 
you  to  pay  the  first  three  months  of  your  subscription  to 
some  valuable  weekly  paper.  There  are  several  such  publish 
ed  in  different  cities  of  the  Union,  and  delicacy  forbids  a  more 
particular  indication  of  that,  to  which  I  think  your  preference 
will  no  doubt  be  given.  If  you  tell  me,  as  you  probably  will, 
that  you  are  already  a  subscriber  to  the  "  New  York  Ledger," 
the  next  most  desirable  investment  for  your  half  a  dollar, 
which  occurs  to  me,  is,  to  contribute  it  to  the  fund  for  the 
purchase  of  Mount  Vernon.  Or  better  than  either,  give  it  to 
that  half-clad,  wretched-looking  creature  in  the  corner  of  the 
car,  holding,  wrapped  up  in  her  threadbare  shawl,  a  famished, 
blue-lipped  child,  that  does  not  look  as  if  it  had  had  a 
comfortable  meal  for  a  week ;  and  it  would  not  be  amiss 
if  you  handed  them,  at  the  same  time,  the  remainder  of 
the  sandwiches.  They  have  already  been  devouring  them 
with  their  hollow,  vacant,  hungry  eyes. — There,  my  friend, 
does  not  that  unearthly  smile  repay  you ;  have  you  not  laid 
out  your  fifty-cent  piece  a  hundredfold  better  than  if  you  had 
paid  it  for  a  half-masticated  meal,  and  a  dyspeptic  afternoon  ? 
But  we  shall  never  get  to  our  journey's  end  if  we  loiter  so 
by  the  way.  Let  us  then  strain  up  the  Beckct  Hills  as  fast 
as  we  can,  dash  down  to  Pittsfield,  and  so  on  to  States  Line 
and  the  Hudson,  till  we  get  to  Albany,  somewhat  weary  and 
a  little  bit  dreary,  just  before  dark.  This  travelling  alone 
in  the  winter,  of  a  rainy  day,  is  not  the  most  genial  thing  in 
the  world.  At  the  Delavan,  however,  we  shall  get  a  nice 
comfortable  tea,  a  room,  a  fire,  a  chance  to  write  a  letter 
home,  to  let  them  know  we  are  safe  thus  far,  possibly  a  nap, 
and  all  for  a  dollar  and  three  quarters  ;  at  half  past  eleven 
o'clock  at  night,  not  a  little  refreshed,  in  pursuance  of  our 
friend's  advice  above  mentioned,  we  take  the  sleeping-car  for 
Syracuse. 


THE    MOUNT    VEENON    PAPEKS.  57 

This  sleeping-car  is  a  great  step  forward  in  the  march  of 
civilization.  It  enables  you  to  travel  and  go  to  bed  at  the 
same  time.  You  lie  down  quietly  to  repose  in  your  berth, 
and  all  the  time  you  dash  along  at  the  rate  of  twenty -five 
miles  an  hour.  Going  from  Albany  to  Syracuse  I  paid  for 
this  novel  luxury  one  dollar,  in  addition  to  the  fare ;  return 
ing  from  Syracuse  to  Albany  four  days  later  I  paid  fifty  cents. 
I  suppose  the  first  time,  that  I  forgot  to  tell  the  conductor 
that  I  was  going  only  half  the  way  to  Buffalo,  and  that  he  for 
got  to  ask  me  how  far  I  was  going.  Any  how,  I  paid  my 
dollar  and  no  questions  asked.  The  next  time,  however,  I 
shall  tell  him  how  far  I  am  going. 

The  berths,  at  least  the  lower  berths,  one  of  which  I  took, 
are  made  up  with  no  little  skill.  The  stuffed  seats  on  which 
you  stretch  yourself  at  full-length,  are  not  too  hard,  and  you 
have  two  good  rubber  pillows,  and  two  very  substantial 
shawls  by  way  of  bed-clothing ;  altogether  as  comfortable  a 
night's  arrangement  as  can  be  expected  by  a  man  who  is 
shooting  all  the  while  through  the  Valley  of  the  Mohawk,  at 
the  rate  of  twenty  or  thirty  miles  an  hour.  I  really  fancied  I 
had  reached  the  perfection  of  midnight  travelling ;  if  perfec 
tion  can  be  predicated  of  that,  which  at  best  is  but  a  mitigated 
discomfort : 

" not  so  sound,  nor  half  so  deeply  sweet, 

As  he  whose  brow,  with  homely  biggin  bound, 
Snores  out  the  watch  of  night." 

But  the  philosophical  Latin  poet  tells  us  that  something  bitter 
bubbles  up  from  the  very  fountain  of  pleasure.  I  had  scarcely 
composed  myself — not  to  sleep — but  to  the  delightful  dreamy 
doze  which  precedes  it,  in  \vhich,  escaped  from  thought,  you 
have  just  consciousness  enough  left  to  know  that  you  are  con 
scious  of  nothing — was  just  sinking  into  a  state  in  which  I  am 
sure  I  could  not  have  said  the  first  line  of  the  multiplication 
table,  nor  returned  thanks  for  a  complimentary  toast  at  a  pub- 
3* 


58  THE  MOUNT  VKRNON  PAPEKS. 

lie  dinner, — when  the  door  of  the  car  opened,  and  two  gentle 
men  bounded  cheerily  in,  took  their  seats  at  the  stove  (my 
berth  was  next  to  the  stove),  and  engaged  in  loud,  animated, 
earnest  conversation  !  The  first  hearty  burst  of  question  and 
reply  went  off  like  a  pistol,  and  summoned  me  back  from  the 
misty  precincts  of  dream-land ;  thought  resumed  her  importu 
nate  sway  ;  and  a  perplexed  impression  succeeded,  that  either 
on  their  part  or  on  mine,  the  right  man  was  not  in  the  right 
place.  For  a  moment  I  was  lost  in  doubt  whether  somebody 
or  other  was  not  unseasonably  loquacious,  or  I  myself  un 
seasonably  drowsy.  In  fact  I  was  not  quite  sure  of  my  per 
sonal  identity.  I  felt  somewhat  as  ITodge  did,  when  he  awoke 
and  found  himself  in  his  wagon,  from  which  some  rogue  had 
stolen  his  cattle  while  he  slept.  "  If  I  am  not  Hodge,"  quoth 
he,  "  I  have  found  a  capital  wagon  ;  if  I  am  Hodge,  I  have 
lost  a  first-rate  yoke  of  oxen." 

Pretty  soon,  however,  I  found  out  that  I  was  Hodge ;  that 
the  sleep  on  which  I  had  calculated  so  confidently  was  in  a 
fair  way  to  be  stolen ;  moreover,  that  I  had  a  long  journey 
before  me  ;  that  I  was  to  speak  at  Canandaigua  in  the  even 
ing,  and  was  likely  to  be  a  good  deal  the  worse  for  wear. 
Accordingly,  after  waiting  awhile  for  the  river  to  run  dry,  I 
raised  myself,  with  the  most  wo-begone  look  I  could  assume 
(and  it  required  no  effort  to  assume  it),  looked  over  the  end 
of  my  berth,  and  told  my  conversible  neighbors  that  I  was 
very  weary,  and  wanted  sadly  to  go  to  sleep,  but  that  1  could 
not  possibly  do  so  if  they  continued  to  talk  with  each  other. 
The  gentleman  nearest  me  answered  with  the  utmost  polite 
ness,  that  they  were  not  aware  there  was  a  person  in  the  next 
berth  who  wished  to  sleep,  and  that  they  would  cease  to  dis 
turb  me.  For  what  other  object  than  going  to  sleep  the  wor 
thy  gentleman  supposed  I  should  be  packed  away  at  midnight, 
in  the  lower  berth  of  a  sleeping-car,  between  Albany  and  Syra 
cuse,  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  he  did  not  inti 
mate,  nor  have  I  been  able  to  conceive.  Satisfied,  however, 


THE    MOUNT    VEKNOjST    PAPERS.  59 

with  his  courteous  and  encouraging  assurance,  I  sank  back ; 
the  gentleman  drew  up  the  screen  that  separated  us  six  inches 
higher,  and,  apparently  under  the  impression  that  sound  like 
water  would  not  rise  above  its  source,  resumed  with  his  com 
panion  their  conversation  as  before  ! 

This  was  a  state  of  things  to  put  one's  philosophy,  even  if 
he  had  been  wide  awake,  to  the  proof.  The  conductor  pres 
ently  passed  along,  and  I  made  my  appeal  to  him.  I  expos 
tulated,  I  argued,  I  sought  to  move.  I  really  think  on  this 
occasion  I  was  eloquent.  I  pleaded  for  the  imprescriptible 
right  of  every  human  being  to  a  night's  sleep,  once  in  the 
twenty -four  hours.  I  put  it  on  the  ground  of  contract ;  I  had 
paid  my  dollar  for  a  berth  in  a  sleeping-car.  Had  I  known 
that  I  had  paid  double  price  I  could  have  put  that  point  more 
forcibly.  I  threw  myself  on  his  sense  of  duty  as  a  conductor ; 
on  his  feelings  as  a  man.  I  had  travelled  since  8  o'clock, 
A.  M.,  and  expected  to  travel  till  half-past  ten  the  next  day, 
before  I  reached  my  destination.  I  was  tired ;  in  a  word,  1 
was  sleepy  ;  and  I  stood,  or  rather,  at  the  moment  I  lay,  upon 
my  right  to  go  to  sleep.  I  had  half  a  mind  to  tell  him  that, 
as  he  had  caused  the  w^ords  "  sleeping-car  "  to  be  printed  on 
the  outside,  and  had  taken  my  money  for  a  berth,  I  could 
bring  assumpsit  against  him,  if  he  did  not  adopt  all  reasonable 
measures  to  let  me  go  to  sleep. 

The  conductor  was  evidently  not  only  convinced  but 
moved.  He  admitted  the  soundness  of  my  argument ;  it  was 
plain  that  he  felt  the  force  of  my  appeal ;  but,  when  I  begged 
him  to  interpose,  and  oblige  the  talkative  gentlemen  to  cease 
their  conversation,  his  countenance  fell,  and  leaning  towards 
me  he  said,  in  a  low  voice,  by  way  of  excuse  for  not  interfering, 
that  "  he  knew  they  ought  not  to  talk,  but  one  was  a  high  officer 
of  the  New  York  Central  Railroad  (and  he  named  the  office, 
but  I  shall  not),  and  the  other  was  a  great  president  of  a  rail 
road  out  West."  He  uttered  the  wrords  with  solemnity,  add 
ing,  for  my  consolation,  that  "  the  officer  of  the  New  York 


60  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

Central  would  get  out  at  Schenectady."  This  was  all  the 
satisfaction  I  got  by  my  first  appeal ;  of  a  second  and  a  third 
he  took  no  notice  as  he  passed  by.  He  probably  supposed  I 
was  beside  myself,  to  think  of  stopping  the  conversation  of  a 
high  functionary  of  the  Central  with  the  "  great  president " 
of  some  other  road.  But  the  longest  hour  has  an  end  ;  we 
reached  Sehenectady  ;  the  officer  of  the  New  York  Central  got 
out ;  and  the  "  great  president,"  like  other  great  presidents, 
leaving  his  seat,  retreated  to  obscurity  in  the  rear  of  the  car. 
As  he  passed  me  toward  his  berth,  I  murmured  to  myself, 
requiescat  in  pace,  meaning  only  (I  am  of  a  very  forgiving 
make)  "  may  he  get  a  good  nap."  With  this  benediction  I 
dismissed  the  great  president  (who,  like  the  great  Macbeth, 
had  "  murdered  sleep  ")  to  that  rest  of  which  he  had  deprived 
me.  For  the  rest  of  the  way  silence  resumed  her  solitary 
reign,  and  I  slept  till  we  reached  Syracuse. 

Here  an  awkward  space  of  two  hours,  and  a  very  coria 
ceous  beef-steak  (partaken  with  the  brakemen  who  were  to 
go  out  at  seven)  intervened  before  we  started  for  Canan- 
daigua.  On  the  way  to  Auburn,  the  car  in  which  I  was  broke 
down  ;  but  without  causing  any  disaster,  or  more  than  a  few 
moments'  delay.  I  arrived  in  safety  at  my  destination  in 
Canandaigua,  and  found  myself  at  home  under  the  hospitable 
roof  of  my  friend  Mr.  Granger. 

With  this  region,  especially  with  Canandaigua,  I  have  some 
domestic  associations,  by  means  of  a  connection  with  the  fam 
ily  of  Hon.  Nathaniel  Gorham.  of  Charlestown,  Massachusetts, 
who  was  associated  with  Oliver  Phelps  in  the  vast  land  pur 
chase,  which  bears  their  joint  names.  Judge  Gorham  was  a 
man  of  eminence ;  he  presided  one  year  in  the  Congress  of 
the  old  confederation ;  and  in  the  convention  for  forming  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  he  was  called  to  the  Chair 
by  Gen.  Washington  every  day  for  three  months.  In  connec 
tion  with  Mr.  Phelps,  shortly  after  the  revolutionary  war,  he 
purchased  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts  (which  claimed,  in 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  61 

virtue  of  a  compromise  with  New  York,  a  pre-emptive  right 
in  the  property  of  the  soil)  a  tract  of  six  millions  of  acres  in 
the  Genesee  Country,  as  it  was  called,  for  a  few  cents  the 
acre ;  a  magnificent  speculation  on  paper ;  but,  like  many 
other  magnificent  paper  speculations,  ending  in  vexation  and 
disappointment ;  and  yielding,  I  believe,  nothing  but  very 
moderate  results  to  the  bold  and  sagacious  adventurers.  But 
the  country  at  that  time  was  unsettled — the  Indian  title  not 
extinguished— the  property  in  the  soil  in  one  State,  the  juris 
diction  over  the  territory  in  another — the  Federal  Constitution 
not  framed,  and  no  efficient  common  tribunal  existing  to  settle 
controversies.  Under  these  circumstances  Messrs.  Gorham 
and  Phelps  were  obliged,  eventually,  to  abandon  the  greater 
part  of  their  princely  purchase. 

But,  though  I  have  hardly  got  to  the  beginning  of  my  "  In 
cursion,"  I  have  reached  the  end  of  my  paper,  and  I  must  tell 
the  rest  of  the  story  another  time. 


NUMBEK    SEVEN. 

AN  INCURSION  INTO   THE  EMPIRE   STATE. 

PART      II. 

Unpromising  weather  at  Canandaigua— History  of  the  settlement— Oliver  Phelps— 
Anecdote  of  Judge  Gorham — Visit  to  Kochester— Reserved  seats — Astonishing 
progress  of  the  settlement — Return  to  Auburn — Change  in  the  weather — From 
Auburn  to  Syracuse  and  detention  there — Sleeping  cars  from  Syracuse  to  Albany 
— Wakeful  fellow-passengers — Collision  at  Albany — Kind-hearted  Conductors — 
Return  home. 

IT  was  snowing  and  raining  when  I  arrived  at  Canandaigua; 
and  when  one  has  travelled,  by  day  and  by  night,  four  hun 
dred  and  twenty -one  miles,  to  speak  in  the  evening,  a  heavy 
rain,  especially  in  the  country,  where  dry  side-walks  and 
vehicles  do  not  much  abound,  is  rather  discouraging.  And 
so  we  watched  the  signs  of  the  times  with  some  anxiety,  and 
lamented  over  the  weather  ;  reconciling  ourselves,  however, 
to  it  at  last,  on  two  grounds  principally,  which  I  mention  be 
cause  they  contain  a  practical  philosophy,  which  may  be 
turned  to  account  in  graver  cases  ; — one  was,  that  our  lamen 
tations  and  anxieties  would  do  no  good  ; — the  other  that, 
though  the  rain  was  not  particularly  desirable  for  us,  it  was 
greatly  wanted  by  the  "  rest  of  mankind,"  as  the  springs  were 
1  w.  And  so  we  submitted  to  the  rain.  It  did  not  appear 
greatly  to  tell  upon  the  audience,  and  the  next  morning  Mr. 
Granger  handed  me,  as  the  proceeds  of  the  evening,  a  generous 
contribution  to  the  Mount  Vernon  fund.  I  suspect  the  sum 
was  somewhat  increased  by  individual  liberality. 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  63 

There  is  no  more  beautiful  village,  as  far  as  my  observa 
tion  has  extended,  than  Canandaigua ;  few  places  of  greater  in 
terest  in  the  history  of  the  settlement  of  the  country.  It  was 
here,  that  the  settlement  of  the  western  part  of  New  York 
commenced,  (after  the  purchase  of  Messrs.  Gorham  and 
Phelps,)  in  the  year  1788.  In  the  summer  of  that  year,  Mr. 
Oliver  Phelps,  a  person  of  truly  heroic  character,  who  is  enti 
tled  to  a  place  among  Lord  Bacon's  Conditores  Imperiorwn, 
(founders  of  empires,)  left  Massachusetts,  for  the  purpose  of 
exploring  and  surveying  the  vast  region  which  he  and  Judge 
Gorham  had  purchased, — now  embracing,  I  believe,  twelve 
counties, — in  the  western  part  of  New  York.  They  pene 
trated,  what  was  then  a  savage  wilderness,  as  far  west  as  Ca 
nandaigua,  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles  west  of  the  German 
Flats,  then  considered  the  utmost  limits  of  civilization.  Rev. 
Mr.  Kirkland,  (father  of  President  Kirkland,  of  Harvard  Col 
lege,)  who  had  long  lived  among  the  Indians  as  a  Missionary, 
accompanied  Mr.  Phelps  and  his  party,  as  a  Commissioner 
on  the  part  of  Massachusetts.  An  Indian  Council  was  held 
on  a  beautiful  eminence  overlooking  Canandaigua  Lake. ;  Red 
Jacket  denounced  the  proposed  treaty ;  but  Farmer's  Brother 
pacified  the  excited  chiefs,  and  an  agreement  was  finally  made 
for  the  extinction  of  the  Indian  title  to  more  than  two  millions 
of  acres  of  land.  After  the  treaty,  the  land  was  surveyed 
under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Phelps,  on  the  system  of  townships 
and  ranges,  which  has  since  been  extended  to  the  public  do 
main  of  the  United  States,  and  forms  one  of  the  most  impor 
tant  and  admirable  arrangements  in  the  practical  administra 
tion  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 

"In  1789  (I  quote  the  Rochester  Directory  of  1827,  as  cited  in 
Barber's  valuable  Historical  Collections  of  New  York)  Oliver  Phelps 
opened  a  land  office  in  Canandaigua.  This  was  the  first  land  office  in 
America  for  the  sale  of  her  forest-lands  to  settlers ;  and  the  system  which 
he  adopted  for  the  survey  of  his  lands  by  townships  and  ranges  became 
the  model  for  the  manner  of  surveying  all  the  new  lands  in  the  United 


6tt  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

States.  Oliver  Phelps  may  be  considered  the  Cecrops  of  the  Genesee 
Country.  Its  inhabitants  owe  a  mausoleum  to  his  memory,  in  gratitude 
for  his  having  pioneered  for  them  the  wilderness  of  this  Canaan  of  the 
West." 

Some  idea  of  the  hardships  attending  the  first  settlement 
of  new  countries  in  general,  and  this  in  particular,  may  be 
formed  from  the  description  given  of  this  now  beautiful  and 
highly  cultivated  village,  abounding  with  all  the  improvements 
of  a  prosperous  rural  district,  in  Mr.  Spafford's  Gazetteer, 
also  cited  in  Barber's  Collections. 

"The  settlement  of  this  town  (Canandaigua)  commenced  in  1790, 
and  in  1797  I  found  it  but  feeble,  contending  with  numerous  embarrass 
ments  and  difficulties.  The  Spring  of  that  year  was  uncommonly  wet 
and  cold.  Besides  a  good  deal  of  sickness, — mud  knee  deep,  mosquitos 
and  gnats  so  thick  that  you  could  hardly  breathe  without  swallowing 
them ;  rattlesnakes,  and  the  ten  thousand  discouragements  everywhere 
incident  to  new  settlements — surrounded  by  these, — in  June  of  that 
year,  I  saw  with  wonder  that  these  people,  all  Yankees  from  Massa 
chusetts,  Connecticut  and  Vermont,  were  perfectly  undismayed,  'looking 
forward  in  hope,  sure  and  steadfast.'  They  talked  to  me  of  what  the 
country  would  be,  by  and  by,  as  if  it  were  history,  and  I  received  it  as 
all  fable." 

Oliver  Phelps  died  on  the  21st  February,  1809,  in  the  six 
tieth  year  of  his  age ;  and  future  generations  will  do  justice 
to  his  memory.  So  rapid  has  been  the  growth  of  this,  in 
common  with  many  other  parts  of  the  country,  that  the 
present  generation  loses,  in  its  familiarity  with  it,  an  adequate 
appreciation  of  the  stupendous  process,  by  which  barbarous 
territories,  almost  boundless,  have  within  sixty  years  been 
brought  into  the  domain  of  civilization.  To  illustrate  the  ra 
pidity  of  this  progress,  I  often  repeat  an  anecdote,  which  has 
descended  by  tradition  in  the  Gorham  family. 

On  one  occasion,  when  Judge  Gorham  was  musing,  in  a 
state  of  mental  depression,  on  the  almost  total  failure  of  this 
magnificent  speculation,  he  was  visited  by  a  friend  and  towns- 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  65 

man,  who  had  returned  from  a  journey  to  Canandaigua,  then 
just  laid  out.  This  friend  tried  to  cheer  the  Judge  with  a 
bright  vision  of  the  future  growth  of  Western  New  York. 
Kindling  with  his  theme,  he  pointed  to  a  son  of  Judge  Gor- 
ham,  who  was  in  the  room,  and  added,  "  You  and  I  shall  not 
live  to  see  the  day,  but  that  lad,  if  he  reaches  threescore  years 
and  ten,  will  see  a  daily  stage-coach  running  as  far  west  as 
Canandaigua."  That  lad  was  the  late  Mr.  Benjamin  Gorham, 
who  died  a  few  years  ago. — who  represented  Boston  for  sev 
eral  years  in  Congress  with  great  ability,  and  who  lived  to 
witness,  not  merely  a  daily  stage-coach,  entering  Canandaigua, 
but  two  great  lines  of  rail-road,  and  a  gigantic  canal,  travers 
ing  the  State  from  east  to  west,  with  subsidiary  communica 
tions  in  every  direction,  and  without  end. 

The  next  day,  (15th  December,)  at  half-past  ten,  I  left 
Canandaigua,  regretting  only  the  necessary  shortness  of  my 
visit,  as  I  have  to  do  constantly.  At  Eochester  we  had  the 
same  menace  of  bad  weather,  which,  however,  gave  way  be 
fore  evening.  I  met  at  the  station  President  Anderson,  Gen 
eral  Smith,  and  Mr.  Moore,  and  was  conducted  by  them  to 
the  hospitable  dwelling  of  Silas  O.  Smith,  Esq.,  and  to  the 
enjoyment  of  all  the  comforts  of  a  cordial  reception  and  a 
friendly  home. 

At  Rochester  we  had  inadvertently  incurred  the  risk  of  a 
pretty  serious  miscarriage.  In  order  to  increase  the  receipts 
of  the  evening,  and  also  to  accommodate  some  elderly  persons, 
invalids,  and  ladies,  Avho  might  desire  a  comfortable  seat  in 
the  hall,  without  going  at  an  hour  beforehand,  or  who  were 
unable  to  struggle  for  it  at  a  crowded  door,  the  idea  of  reserv 
ing  a  portion  of  the  seats  at  a  higher  price,  occurred  to  those 
having  charge  of  the  arrangements.  It  was  not  an  entirely 
novel  plan  ;  but,  though  a  well-meant,  it  proved  to  be  an 
unfortunate  suggestion.  Seats  are  daily  reserved  in  many, 
nay,  in  most  places  of  public  resort,  in  this  country  and  in 
Europe,  without  giving  alarm  to  the  most  sensitive  votary  of 


66  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

republican  equality.  But  it  gave  offence  to  some  of  our  Rof- 
fensian  friends, — and  it  became  necessary,  in  deference  to  the 
excited  public  feeling,  to  abandon  the  discrimination,  and  to 
place  all  the  tickets  at  the  lower  price.  This  restored  har 
mony,  at  the  expense,  I  suppose,  of  a  hundred  or  two  of  dol 
lars  to  the  Mount  Vernon  fund ;  and  a  noble  audience  filled 
the  hall,  which  is  one  of  the  best  in  the  country.  For  myself, 
I  am  no  aristocrat.  I  do  not  own  a  quadruped  larger  than  a 
cat,  and  she  an  indifferent  mouser ;  nor  any  kind  of  a  vehicle, 
with  the  exception,  possibly,  of  a  wheelbarrow.  But  I  am 
willing  my  neighbor  should  dash  by  me  on  his  spirited  horse, 
while  I  am  trudging  a-foot ;  or  roll  in  his  luxurious  carriage, 
while  I  take  a  seat  in  the  omnibus.  On  the  same  principle, 
if  my  neighbor  prefers  to  pay  a  dollar  for  a  reserved  seat  at 
a  place  of  public  resort,  (especially  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Mount  Vernon  fund.)  it  does  not  disquiet  me  in  the  purchase 
of  a  fifty-cent  ticket.  If  my  neighbor  is  an  aged  person,  an 
invalid,  or  a  lady,  and  is  disposed  to  pay  a  double  price  for  a 
little  comfort  of  this  kind,  I  have  personally  no  objection, — 
although  I  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  proposed  arrangement 
at  Rochester,  as  I  never  have  with  any  business  arrangements 
connected  with  the  repetition  of  my  address. 

The  next  day — though  the  air  was  somewhat  shrewd — I 
greatly  enjoyed  a  drive  to  the  beautiful  Cemetery  and  the  falls 
of  the  Genesee.  The  river  was  in  grand  order,  the  falls  mag 
nificent,  spanned  with  a  rainbow,  which,  in  cosequence  of  a 
high  wind,  that  blew  the  water  into  spray,  was  of  more  than 
ordinary  brilliancy.  I  had  seen  Rochester  but  once  before, 
and  that  in  1821  ;  and  when,  I  believe,  Carthage  contended 
with  her  for  the  mastery.  Carthage  is  now  pretty  much  in 
the  condition  of  its  African  namesake,  and  Rochester  is  a  city 
probably  of  some  fifty  thousand  inhabitants.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  astonishing  examples  of  the  growth  of  the  new  settle 
ments  in  this  country.  The  part  which,  in  1812,  was  surveyed 
for  the  purpose  of  settlement  by  Nathaniel  Rochester,  Charles 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  67 

H.  Carroll,  and  William  Fitzhugh,  emigrants  from  Maryland, 
I  believe,  and  called  "  Rochester  "  after  the  senior  proprietor, 
had,  under  the  name  of  the  "  Mill  lot,"  been  bestowed  by 
Gorham  and  Phelps  on  a  semi-savage,  called  Indian  Allen,  as 
an  inducement  for  building  mills,  to  grind  corn  and  saw 
boards  for  the  few  settlers  at  that  time  in  this  region.* 
Messrs.  Rochester,  Carroll,  and  Fitzhugh  paid  $1,750  for  this 
hundred  acre  lot,  on  which  a  considerable  part  of  the  city 
of  Rochester  is  built.  Some  of  the  land  on  the  other  side 
of  the  river  was  sold  by  Gorham  and  Phelps  in  1790  for 
eighteen  pence  the  acre.  It  is  statements  like  these,  which 
beguile  men  into  land  speculations,  in  which  I  shall  give  you 
the  benefit  of  my  own  experience,  on  a  small  scale,  another 
time. 

Having  passed  a  most  agreeable  day  in  the  amiable  family 
circle  of  my  hospitable  hosts,  and  with  the  advantage  of  mak 
ing  the  acquaintance  of  many  of  the  citizens,  I  left  Rochester 
at  6  P.M.,  in  company  with  my  friend,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cressy 
of  Auburn,  who  had  taken  charge  of  the  arrangements  for  the 
repetition  of  my  address  at  that  delightful  village,  which  we 
reached  at  about  half-past  ten  P.M. 

I  never  would  willingly  travel  in  the  dark,  which  deprives 
you  of  all  the  gratification  and  benefit  of  seeing  a  country 
with  your  own  eyes,  and  thus  getting  an  idea  of  it  which  no 
guide  books  can  furnish.  But  in  this  intense  condensation 
of  existence  to  which  we  submit,  crowding  into  one  week 
the  work  of  three — the  leisurely  survey  of  the  country 
through  which  you  pass  in  travelling,  is  one  of  the  first 
things  to  be  sacrificed.  One  would  have  thought  that  the 
vastly  increased  facilities  of  travelling,  which  enable  one,  on 
all  the  great  routes,  to  do  in  eight  or  nine  hours  the  work  of 
three  days  in  old  times,  would  have  led  us  to  take  things  a 
little  more  leisurely  and  comfortably.  Instead  of  this  we 

*  Barber's  Historical  Collections,  p.  266. 


68  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPEKS. 

clamor  for  more  unseasonable  trains,  and  wish  to  pass  these 
eight  or  nine  hours  under  the  dark,  damp  wings  of  night. 

A  great  change  in  the  weather  took  place  during  the  night 
of  the  ICth ;  and  in  the  morning  Dr.  Cressy's  churchyard 
which  lay  beneath  my  windows,  and  the  fine  street  which 
runs  through  Auburn,  were  covered  with  snow.  The  weather 
was  not  tempting  abroad,  though  I  was  very  desirous  of  seeing 
the  penitentiary,  which  occupies  so  prominent  a  place  in  the 
history  of  prison  discipline, — the  "  Auburn  system  "  being 
originally  the  technical  designation  of  the  plan  of  social  labor 
in  the  workshop,  and  solitary  confinement  at  meals  and  at 
night.  Prevented  from  going  abroad,  I  passed  the  hours  at 
home,  till  it  was  time  to  receive  the  visits  of  friends — in  what 
occupation  think  you,  gentle  reader  1  Can  there  be  two  con 
jectures  as  to  what  a  well-meaning  man,  under  engagement 
to  furnish  a  weekly  article  to  the  "  New  York  Ledger,"  would 
do  with  a  couple  of  leisure  hours,  which  he  was  compelled, 
by  stress  of  weather,  to  pass  within  doors  ? 

The  appointed  hour  arrives,  and  a  full  and  favoring  audi 
ence  welcomes  us  to  Auburn  ;  a  village,  I  doubt  not,  though 
seen  by  me  only  under  its  wintry  shroud,  far  more  "  sweet " 
than  that  from  which  it  derives  its  lovely  name.  Compelled 
to  return  to  Boston  by  Saturday  night,  in  order  to  keep  my 
appointments  for  the  following  week,  I  was  obliged  to  deny 
myself  the  gratification  of  a  visit  to  its  important  public  Insti 
tutions.  And  so  after  one  more  genial  and  refreshing  hour 
with  my  hospitable  host,  I  went,  with  him,  and  my  obliging 
friends  Mr.  Morgan  and  Mr.  Ludlow,  (the  latter  so  well 
known  to  many  of  the  readers  of  the  Ledger  as  the  "  Hasheesh 
Eater/')  to  the  Railway  station,  and  the  train  soon  arriving 
from  Rochester  took  us  to  Syracuse.  The  night  was  cold, 
and  one  feels  a  little  catch-coldish  after  speaking  two  hours  ; 
and  so  the  extra  clothing  of  which  we  spoke  rather  dispar 
agingly  last  week,  grew  mightily  into  favor  again. 

We  reached  Syracuse  about  twenty  minutes  after  eleven, 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  69 

and  were  to  leave  it  for  Albany  by  the  Western  train  for 
Buffalo,  due  at  five  minutes  before  four  ;  an  arrangement  of 
hours,  too  long  to  sit  up  and  too  short  to  go  to  bed,  and 
admirably  adapted  to  cultivate  the  equanimity  of  itinerant 
orators,  tired  of  speaking  and  anxious  to  get  home.  Time 
does  not  "  gallop  withal  "  under  such  circumstances  ;  in  fact, 
1  am  strongly  inclined  to  think  that  fretting  is  the  very  best 
instrument  for  clipping  his  wings.  At  length  the  Western 
train  arrived  with  the  most  gratifying  punctuality,  and  I 
again  took  refuge  in  the  sleeping  car.  No  "  great  president " 
or  high  official  of  the  New  York  Central  disturbed  my  slum 
bers,  which  lasted  till  the  break  of  day.  I  could  have  wished, 
in  fact  I  may  say  that  I  fondly  expected,  that  they  might  last 
a  little  longer.  I  know  few  places  or  times  when  one  is  less 
tempted  to  wake  up,  than  a  cold  December  morning  in  a 
sleeping  car,  after  two  hours  oratory  at  Auburn  and  four 
hours  impatient  waiting  at  Syracuse.  It  so  happened,  however, 
that  the  berths  next  to  me,  and  on  opposite  sides  of  the  car, 
were  occupied  by  travellers  from  Chicago,  who  had  probably 
had  two  nights  comfortable  sleep  since  they  left  home,  at 
any  rate  had  slept  all  the  way  from  Buffalo.  They  were 
consequently  prepared  to  wake  with  the  dawn.  They  not 
only  woke  themselves,  but  fell  into  an  argument,  that  pro 
duced  precisely  the  same  effect  upon  everybody  else  in  the 
car.  They  happened  to  take  opposite  views  of  several  im 
portant  political  questions.  One  appeared  to  be  a  naturalized 
foreigner,  and  the  other  was  very  strongly  Native  American. 
They  had  both  gone  through  the  late  electioneering  campaign 
in  Chicago,  which,  as  far  as  I  could  infer  from  their  state 
ments,  was  "  animated  "  to  say  the  least.  Their  accounts  of 
it  certainly  were.  They  argued,  vociferated,  and  shouted. 
It  was  an  interchange  of  sentiment  that  might  be  called  bois 
terous  ;  taunt  and  retort ;  fling  and  sarcasm.  Virgil  tells  us 
that  the  muses  like  alternations.  I  think  that  if  the  muses 
had  been  broken  of  their  rest  as  much  as  I  had,  they  would 


70  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

change  their  minds  a  little  in  a  case  of  this  kind.  But  though 
the  alternation  was  decidedly  an  altercation,  it  was  upon  the 
whole  good-natured.  Had  they  got  to  blows,  one  might 
almost  have  thought  that  we  had,  during  our  slumbers,  been 
transported  to  Washington  and  woke  up  on  the  floor  of  Con 
gress.  Happily  it  was  in  a  sleeping  car ;  the  dispute  was 
interspersed  with  peals  of  laughter  while  it  lasted,  and  ended 
in  great  good  humor  and  a  general  waking  up. 

Nothing  adverse  happened  till  we  entered  the  station  yard 
at  Albany.  Here  within  a  few  rods  of  our  goal,  our  car,  which 
was  in  the  rear,  came  into  collision  with  an  Engine  left  stand 
ing  in  the  wrong  place.  The  iron  coupling  which  attached  us 
to  the  preceding  car  snapped  like  pack-thread,  and  we  were 
thrown  from  the  track.  But  we  had  reached  our  destination ; 
the  damage  to  the  car  was  trifling,  to  passengers  null.  An 
engineer,  as  we  passed  out,  judiciously  remarked,  that  "  we 
should  not  have  got  off  so  well  had  the  collision  taken  place, 
while  we  were  moving  at  the  rate  of  thirty  miles  an  hour." 
Probably  not ;  but  whether  the  carelessness  which  caused  it 
might  not  have  existed,  deserves  consideration. 

We  wrere  comfortably  housed  at  the  Delavan  at  a  quarter 
past  ten.  The  trains  from  the  West  are  so  arranged,  that 
they  reach  Albany  about  an  hour  after  the  train  for  Boston 
has  started.  If  you  happen  to  have  business  in  Albany  which 
occupies  four  or  five  hours,  this  is  a  convenient  arrangement. 
If  you  are  very  anxious  to  get  back  to  Boston  by  daylight, 
it  would  be  a  convenient  thing  to  have  the  two  trains  connect 
with  each  other.  But  it  is  impossible  that  every  train  should 
connect  with  every  other ;  although  impatient  travellers  are 
apt  to  think  it  might. 

The  afternoon  and  evening  were  intensely  cold.  The  pilot 
clothes  and  dreadnoughts  came  admirably  in  play.  The  kind- 
hearted  conductor  said  it  was  the  coldest  night  of  the  season. 
I  call  him  "  kind-hearted,"  because  he  allowed  a  poor  young 
mother  with  a  shivering  infant  in  her  arms,  and  not  a  farthing 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEKS.  71 

in  her  pocket,  to  keep  her  seat.  "  How  could  I  put  her  out 
in  a  night  like  this  1  "  You  couldn't,  good  conductor,  because 
you  have  a  kind  heart ; — but  I  have  fallen  in  with  conductors, 
who  I  fear  would  have  been  less  merciful. — Though  not  in  a 
sleeping  car,  I  enjoyed  a  glorious  sleep  almost  all  the  way 
home.  In  fact  so  overwhelmed  was  I  with  drowsiness,  that 
I  think  I  could  have  slept  through  the  argument  of  my  Chi 
cago  friends,  or  the  dialogue  of  the  high  officer  and  the  great 
President.  The  new  conductor, — also  kind-hearted, — hap 
pened  to  recognize  me  though  asleep,  and  did  not  wake  me  up 
for  my  check  from  West  Brookfield  to  Boston, — for  which 
good  office  he  will  long  live  in  the  grateful  remembrance  of 
a  sleepy  traveller. 


NUMBEE  EIGHT. 

THE  PARABLE  AGAINST  PERSECUTION. 

First  published  by  Lord  Kames  in  1774  as  having  been  communicated  to  him  by  Dr. 
Franklin— Soon  discovered  in  Jeremy  Taylor's  Liberty  of  Prophesying— Next 
found  in  the  dedication  to  the  Senate  of  Hamburg  of  the  Latin  translation  by 
George  Genz  of  a  Rabbinical  work— Afterwards  traced  to  the  "  Flower-Garden" 
of  the  celebrated  Persian  poet  Saudi — Some  account  of  Saadi — Possibly  still  to  be 
found  in  some  Jewish  writer — Defence  of  Dr.  Franklin  against  the  charge  of  pla 
giarism—Quoted  by  Sydney  Smith  before  the  Mayor  and  Corporation  of  Bristol 
in  1829— The  parable  given  entire  from  Dr.  Franklin's  works. 

No  composition  of  the  kind  is  so  famous,  perhaps,  as  the 
"  Parable  on  Persecution."  This  is  owing,  partly,  to  its  in 
trinsic  beauty  both  of  substance  and  form.  The  moral  lesson 
which  it  inculcates  is  of  the  purest  and  loftiest  kind  ;  and  the 
form  in  which  this  moral  is  clothed  is  singularly  attractive. 
Its  celebrity,  however,  is  mainly  to  be  ascribed  to  the  circum 
stances  attending  its  publication, — or  rather  re-publication  in 
a  revised  form, — under  the  name  of  Dr.  Franklin. 

In  1774  Lord  Kames,  in  the  second  volume  of  his 
"  Sketches  of  the  History  of  Man,"  introduced  the  substance 
of  this  parable,  with  these  words :  "  The  following  parable 
against  persecution  was  communicated  to  me  by  Dr.  Franklin 
of  Philadelphia,  a  man  who  makes  a  great  figure  in  the  learned 
world,  and  who  would  still  make  a  greater  figure  for  benev 
olence  and  candor,  were  virtue  as  much  regarded  in  this  declin 
ing  age  as  knowledge"  Such  is  Lord  Kames'  remark,  in  the 
first  edition  of  his  book,  as  I  find  it  quoted  by  Mr.  Sparks  in 
the  second  volume  of  the  works  of  Franklin.  In  the  third 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  73 

edition  of  Lord  Kanics'  "  Sketches,"  which  lies  before  me, 
and  purports  to  be  "  considerably  improved,"  the  words  in 
italics  are  omitted,  probably  for  political  reasons. 

The  parable  was  given  as  follows  in  his  Lordship's  Sketches, 
though  not,  as  will  presently  appear,  with  entire  accuracy,  as 
communicated  to  him  by  Dr.  Franklin  : 

"And  it  came  to  pass  after  these  things,  that  Abi'aham  sat  in  the 
door  of  his  tent,  about  the  going  down  of  the  sun.  And  behold  a  man 
bent  with  age  coming  from  the  way  of  the  wilderness  leaning  on  a  staff. 
And  Abraham  arose,  and  met  him,  and  said  unto  him,  'Turn  in,  I  pray 
thee,  and  wash  thy  feet,  and  tarry  all  night ;  and  thou  shalt  arise  early 
in  the  morning,  and  go  on  thy  way.'  And  the  man  said,  '  Nay ;  for  I 
will  abide  under  this  tree.'  But  Abraham  pressed  him  greatly ;  so  he 
turned,  and  they  went  into  the  tent :  and  Abraham  baked  unleavened 
bread,  and  they  did  eat.  And  when  Abraham  saw  that  the  man  blessed 
not  God,  he  said  unto  him,  '  Wherefore  dost  thou  not  worship  the  most 
high  God,  creator  of  heaven  and  earth  ? '  And  the  man  answered  and 
said,  '  I  do  not  worship  thy  God,  neither  do  I  call  upon  his  name  ;  for  I 
have  made  myself  a  God,  which  abideth  always  in  my  house,  and  provi- 
deth  me  with  all  things.'  And  Abraham's  zeal  was  kindled  against  the  man, 
and  he  arose  and  fell  upon  him,  and  drove  him  forth  with  blows  into 
the  wilderness.  And  God  called  unto  Abraham,  saying,  'Abraham, 
where  is  the  stranger?'  And  Abraham  answered  and  said,  'Lord,  he 
Avould  not  worship  thee,  neither  would  he  call  upon  thy  name  ;  there 
fore  have  I  driven  him  out  from  before  my  face  into  the  wilderness.'  And 
God  said,  '  Have  I  borne  with  him  these  hundred  ninety  and  eight  years, 
and  nourished  him,  and  clothed  him,  notwithstanding  his  rebellion  against 
me  ;  and  couldst  not  thou,  who  art  thyself  a  sinner,  bear  with  him  one 
night  ? ' " 

From  Lord  Kames'  work  this  parable  was  taken  by  the 
late  Hon.  Benjamin  Vaughan  of  Hallowell,  but  then  of  Lon 
don,  in  his  edition  of  Dr.  Franklin's  writings.  Mr.  Vaughan, 
as  is  well  known,  was  the  intimate  friend  of  Dr.  Franklin, 
and  published  in  London,  in  1779,  the  first  English  edition  of 
Franklin's  miscellaneous  essays.  From  the  time  of  its  ap 
pearance  in  this  volume,  the  Parable  began  to  attract  notice, 
was  often  repeated,  and  greatly  admired  as  a  most  happy 
illustration  of  an  all-important  moral  truth. 
4 


T4:  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS. 

Though  not  communicated  to  Lord  Kames  by  Dr.  Frank 
lin  as  his  own  composition,  it  was  naturally  enough  inferred 
from  the  manner  in  which  it  was  brought  forward,  that  such 
was  the  case.  A  good  deal  of  surprise  was  accordingly  mani 
fested,  when  it  was  discovered,  not  long  after,  that  a  parable 
of  substantially  the  same  import  was  found  in  Jeremy  Tay 
lor's  "  Liberty  of  Prophesying  ;  "  (published  in  1657,)  in  the 
following  words : 

"I  end  with  a  story  which  I  find  in  the  Jews'  Books.  When  Abra 
ham  sat  at  his  tent-door,  according  to  his  custom,  waiting  to  entertain 
strangers,  he  espied  an  old  man  stooping  and  leaning  on  his  staffe,  weary 
with  age  and  travelle,  coming  toward  him,  who  was  an  hundred  years  of 
age ;  he  received  him  kindly,  washed  his  feet,  provided  supper,  caused 
him  to  sit  down  ;  but  observing  that  the  old  man  eat  and  prayed  not, 
nor  begged  for  a  blessing  on  his  meat,  asked  him  why  he  did  not  wor 
ship  the  God  of  heaven?  The  old  man  told  him  that  he  worshipped  the 
fire  only,  and  acknowledged  no  other  God ;  at  which  answer  Abraham 
grew  so  zealously  angry,  that  he  thrust  the  old  man  out  of  his  tent,  and 
exposed  him  to  all  the  evils  of  the  night  and  an  unguarded  condition. 
When  the  old  man  was  gone,  God  called  to  him,  and  asked  him  where 
the  stranger  was ;  he  replied,  '  I  thrust  him  away  because  he  did  not 
worship  thee ;'  God  answered  him,  '  I  have  suffered  him  these  hundred 
years,  although  he  dishonored  me,  and  couldst  not  thou  endure  him  one 
night,  when  he  gave  thee  no  trouble  ? '  Upon  this,  saith  the  story,  Abra 
ham  fetcht  him  back  again,  and  gave  him  hospitable  entertainment  and 
wise  instruction.  Go  thou  and  do  likewise,  and  thy  charity  will  be  re 
warded  by  the  God  of  Abraham/' 

Bishop  Taylor,  having  quoted  "  the  Jews'  Books  "  as  the 
source  of  the  Parable,  search  began  to  be  made  for  it  in  every 
direction  among  Jewish  writers,  but  without  success.  At 
length  it  was  discovered. — In  the  Latin  dedication  to  the 
Senate  of  Hamburg,  of  a  Rabbinical  work,  entitled  the  "  Rod 
of  Judah ;"  the  translator,  George  Genz,  gives  the  story  sub 
stantially  as  found  in  Jeremy  Taylor's  "  Liberty  of  Prophe 
sying."  The  work  of  Genz  was  published  at  Amsterdam,  in 
1651.  The  Latin  passage  is  quoted  at  length  by  Mr.  Sparks 
and  by  Bishop  Heber,  in  a  note  to  his  life  of  Jeremy  Taylor, 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  75 

but  it  approaches  so  near  the  version  contained  in  "  the  Liber 
ty  of  Prophesying,"  that  it  is  hardly  worth  while  to  extract 
it  in  this  place.  There  are,  however,  some  differences.  For 
instance,  in  the  Latin  preface  of  Genz  the  answer  is,  "  *  I  am  a 
fire-worshipper,  and  ignorant  of  manners  of  this  kind  ;  for  our 
ancestors  have  taught  me  no  such  pious  observance ; '  perceiv 
ing  with  horror  from  his  speech,  that  he  had  to  do  with  a 
profane  fire- worshipper,  and  a  person  alien  to  the  worship  of 
his  God,  Abraham  drove  him  from  his  table  and  his  abode,  as 
one  whose  intercourse  was  contagious,  and  as  a  foe  to  his 
religion." 

But  though  there  were  considerable  differences  of  this 
kind  in  the  versions,  it  was  thought  highly  probable,  not  to 
say  certain,  from  the  substantial  similarity  of  the  parable  in 
the  preface  of  Genz  to  "  the  Rod  of  Judah,"  that  Jeremy  Tay 
lor  derived  it  from  that  source  ;  and  as  it  was  the  preface  by 
a  Jew  to  a  Rabbinical  work,  it  was  not  inaccurately,  though 
rather  vaguely,  credited  by  him  to  "  the  Jews'  Books"  The 
inquiry  of  course  immediately  arose  as  to  the  authority  on 
which  it  was  given  by  Genz.  He  himself  cites  simply  "  nobi- 
lissimus  autor  Sadus,"  "  a  most  noble  author  Sadus"  Who 
was  Sadus  ? 

Conjecture  was  not  long  at  fault  on  this  point.  It  was 
soon  discovered  in  India,  that  this  remarkable  composition, 
which  seemed  like  a  shadow  to  fly  as  it  was  approached,  was 
substantially  contained,  not  in  any  "  Jews'  Books,"  (as  Jeremy 
Taylor  supposed,  for  the  reasons  just  stated.)  but  in  the  Bos- 
tan  or  "  Flower  Garden "  of  the  celebrated  Persian  poet 
Saadi,  unquestionably  the  individual  referred  to  by  Genz 
under  the  Latinized  name  of  Sadus.  An  English  translation 
of  the  Parable  from  this  ancient  Persian  poem  was  published 
in  the  Asiatic  Miscellany  at  Calcutta  in  1789,  and  is  quoted 
from  that  work  in  the  note  of  Bishop  Heber  to  the  life  of 
Jeremy  Taylor,  above  alluded  to.  It  is  somewhat  more  dif- 


76  THE    MOUNT   VEKNON    PAPEJRS. 

fuse,  and  more  strongly  tinged  with  Oriental  coloring  than  in 
the  translation  of  Genz,  but  not  materially  different. 

Thus  the  authorship  of  this  celebrated  Parable,  originally 
brought  into  notice  by  the  great  American  patriot  and  philos 
opher,  is  traced,  through  an  English  prelate,  and  a  German 
Jew,  to  the  famous  Persian  poet  of  the  twelfth  century. 
Saadi  is  supposed  to  have  been  born  at  Shiraz  about  the  year 
of  our  Lord  1194,  in  the  reign  of  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion. 
He  studied  at  Bagdad,  under  the  most  celebrated  teachers  of 
the  time ;  but  soon  embraced  a  religious  life,  and  made,  it  is 
s.aid,  fourteen  pilgrimages  to  Mecca,  and  always  on  foot.  He 
is  reported  to  have  attained  the  age  of  a  hundred  and  two 
years.  Some  accounts  say  a  hundred  and  twenty  ;  and  that, 
after  reaching  the  age  of  twelve,  he  devoted  thirty  years  to 
study,  thirty  to  travel,  and  thirty  to  retirement  and  religious 
contemplations.  His  literary  tastes  and  religious  occupations 
did  not,  in  middle  life,  prevent  him  from  discharging  the  duty 
of  all  good  Mussulmans,  to  fight  against  the  infidels.  He 
served  both  in  India  and  in  Asia  Minor ;  and  in  the  latter 
country  was  made  prisoner  by  the  Crusaders.  He  was  em 
ployed  by  them  with  other  prisoners  in  throwing  up  the 
trenches  before  Tripoli  in  Syria.  Here  he  was  ransomed  for 
ten  pieces  of  gold  by  a  rich  inhabitant  of  Aleppo  ;  who  also 
gave  him  his  daughter  in  marriage,  which,  however,  is  not 
represented  by  him  as  the  most  auspicious  event  of  his  life. 
Having  acquired  a  great  name  as  a  poet,  traveller,  and  devo 
tee,  he  built  a  house  in  the  neighborhood  of  Shiraz,  towards 
the  close  of  his  career ;  where,  retaining  of  his  wealth  only 
what  was  necessary  for  his  support,  he  gave  up  the  rest  to  the 
poor.  He  was  buried  in  the  garden  of  his  dwelling,  and  his 
tomb  is  still  visited  as  that  of  one  of  the  brightest  geniuses 
that  adorn  the  literature  of  his  country. 

The  Parable  on  Persecution,  then,  is  found  in  the  Bostan 
or  "  Flower  Garden,"  one  of  the  most  celebrated  poems  of 
Saadi ;  and  in  his  Gulistan,  or  "  Rose  Garden,"  there  is  an 


THS  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  77 

allusion  to  an  incident  in  his  life,  which  may  by  possibility 
throw  a  ray  of  light  on  the  remoter  history  of  the  Parable. 
Saadi  states  in  the  Gulistan,  that  while  he  was  a  prisoner  to 
the  Crusaders,  he  was  set  to  work,  "  with  some  Jews,"  on  the 
trenches  before  Tripoli.  This  was  a  period  of  high  culture 
among  the  Jews  of  Western  Asia ;  and  there  is  no  reason  to 
doubt,  that,  among  the  prisoners  of  that  race  that  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Christians,  some  of  them  may  have  been,  like 
Saadi  himself,  men  of  refinement  and  learning.  Saadi  gives 
the  Parable  as  something  that  "  he  had  heard  once ;  "  and 
nothing  seems  to  me  more  probable  than  that  a  learned  Jew, 
being  a  fellow-prisoner  with  a  learned  Persian,  should  have 
related  to  him  this  striking  parable,  of  which  the  personages 
were  the  great  Jewish  patriarch,  and  a  devotee  of  the  old  Per 
sian  fire-worship. 

On  this  supposition,  it  would  still  remain  probable,  that 
the  Parable  yet  lies  concealed  in  some  of  the  ancient  "  Jews' 
Books,"  and  may  have  even  been  found  there  by  Jeremy 
Taylor.  There  is  no  apparent  reason  why,  if  he  took  it  from 
Genz,  he  did  not  name  him.  A  learned  Jewish  scholar,  men 
tioned  by  Bishop  Heber,  was  strongly  persuaded,  that  he  had 
somewhere  seen  it,  in  a  commentary  on  Genesis  xviii.  1, — 
which  has,  however,  never  been  found.  Whatever  be  its 
source,  there  are  few  uninspired  teachings,  Jewish  or  Christian, 
equally  impressive.  It  is  an  undoubted  chapter  of  that  great 
primitive  gospel,  which  the  Creator  has  written  on  the  hearts 
and  minds  of  men,  but  which,  like  the  page  of  revelation,  is 
too  apt  to  be  forgotten  under  the  influence  of  partisan  and 
sectarian  passion. 

But  to  return  to  Franklin's  connection  with  the  Parable. 
As  soon  as  it  was  discovered  that  it  was  found  substantially 
in  Jeremy  Taylor,  Dr.  Franklin,  then  living  in  England,  was 
accused  of  plagiarism  in  the  Repository,  a  journal  in  which 
the  discovery  was  announced.  From  this  charge  a  friendly 
writer,  probably  Mr.  Vaughan,  evidently  well  acquainted  with 


78  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS. 

Dr.  Franklin's  tastes  and  habits,  defended  him,  on  the  ground 
that  he  had  never  claimed  it  as  his  own ;  that  it  was  published 
without  his  knowledge  by  Lord  Kames ;  that  Dr.  Franklin 
had  been  struck  and  pleased  with  it,  as  he  heard  it  or  found 
it,  and,  having  expanded  and  improved  it,  had  it  printed  for 
private  distribution. 

"This  great  man,"  says  this  writer,  "  who  at  the  same  time  that  he 
was  desirous  of  disseminating  an  amiable  sentiment,  was  an  extreme 
lover  of  pleasantry,  often  endeavored  to  put  oif  the  Parable  in  question 
upon  his  acquaintance,  as  a  portion  of  Scripture,  and  probably  thought 
this  one  of  the  most  successful  modes  of  circulating  its  moral.  This  ob 
ject  would  certainly  have  been  defeated,  had  he  prefixed  to  the 
printed  copies  of  the  Parable,  which  he  was  fond  of  dispersing,  an  inti 
mation  of  its  author.  He  therefore  gave  no  name  whatever  to  it,  much 
less  his  own.  And  often  as  I  have  heard  of  his  amusing  himself  on  this 
occasion,  I  never  could  learn  that  he  ascribed  to  himself  the  merit  of 
the  invention." 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Vaughan,  Dr.  Franklin  tells  him  that 
he  had  a  copy  of  it  bound  up  in  a  Bible,  and  often  read  it 
from  the  volume  to  his  visitors,  sometimes  to  the  perplexity 
of  those  w^ho  heard  it,  and  had  no  remembrance  of  having 
noticed  it  in  their  owrn  reading  of  the  Scriptures.  This  treat 
ment  of  the  sacred  volume  cannot  be  entirely  approved, 
though  nothing  irreverent  was  intended  in  it,  by  Dr.  Franklin. 
The  last  time,  as  far  as  we  are  aware,  that  the  Parable  has 
attracted  public  notice  in  England,  was  when  it  was  quoted 
by  Sydney  Smith,  in  a  sermon  preached  before  the  Mayor 
and  Corporation  of  Bristol,  on  the  5th  of  November,  1828. 
"  I  told  the  Corporation,"  says  he,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend,  "  at 
the  end  of  my  sermon,  that  beautiful  Rabbinical  story  quoted 
by  Jeremy  Taylor,  '  as  Abraham  was  sitting  at  the  door  of 
his  tent,'  &c.,  which,  by-the-by,  would  make  a  charming  and 
useful  placard  against  the  bigoted." 

I  cannot  better  close  this  curious  history  than  by  subjoin 
ing  the  Parable  entire,  as  communicated  by  Dr.  Franklin  to 
Mr.  Vaughan  ;  and  the  reader  will  no  doubt  concur  with  Mr. 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  T9 

Sparks  in  the  remark,  that  "  whoever  will  compare  it  as  here 
given,  with  the  sources  whence  it  was  derived,  will  see  that 
its  chief  point  and  beauty  consists  in  the  dress  and  additions 
which  it  received  from  Dr.  Franklin's  hand." 

PARABLE  AGAINST  PERSECUTION. 

1.  And  it  came  to  pass  after  these  things,  that  Abraham 
sat  in  the  door  of  his  tent,  about  the  going  down  of  the  sun. 

2.  And  behold,  a  man  bowed  with  age,  came  from  the 
way  of  the  wilderness,  leaning  on  a  staff. 

3.  And  Abraham  arose  and  met  him,  and  said  unto  him, 
"  Turn  in,  I  pray  thee,  and  wash  thy  feet,  and  tarry  all  night, 
and  thou  shalt  arise  early  on  the  morrow,  and  go  on  thy 
way." 

4.  But  the  man  said,  "  Nay,  for  1  will  abide  under  this 
tree." 

5.  And  Abraham  pressed  him  greatly  ;  so  he  turned  and 
they  went   into  the  tent,  and  Abraham   baked   unleavened 
bread,  and  they  did  eat. 

6.  And  when  Abraham   saw  that  the  man  blessed  not 
God,  he  said  unto  him,  "  Wherefore  dost  thou  not  worship 
the  most  high  God,  Creator  of  heaven  and  earth  ?  " 

7.  And  the  man  answered  and  said,  "  I  do  not  worship 
the  God  thou  speakest  of,  neither  do  I  call  upon  his  name ; 
for  I  have  made  to  myself  a  God,  which  abideth  always  in 
mine  house,  and  provideth  me  with  all  things." 

8.  And  Abraham's  zeal  was  kindled  against  the  man,  and 
he  arose  and  fell  upon  him,  and  drove  him  forth  with  blows 
into  the  wilderness. 

9.  And  at  midnight  God  called  unto  Abraham,  saying, 
"  Abraham,  where  is  the  stranger  ?  " 

10.  And  Abraham  answered  and  said,  "  Lord,  he  would 
not  worship  thee,  neither  would  he  call  upon   thy  name ; 
therefore  have  I  driven  him  out  from  before  my  face  into  the 
wilderness." 


80  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

11.  And  God  said,  "Have  I  borne  with  him  these  hun 
dred  ninety  and  eight  years,  and  nourished  him,  and  clothed 
him,  notwithstanding  his  rebellion  against  me  ;  and  couldst 
not  thou,  that  art  thyself  a  sinner,  bear  with  him  one  night  V 

12.  And  Abraham  said,  "  Let  not  the  anger  of  the  Lord 
wax  hot  against  his  servant ;  lo,  I  have  sinned ;  lo,  I  have 
sinned  ;  forgive  me,  I  pray  thee." 

13.  And  Abraham  arose,  and  went  forth  into  the  wilder 
ness,  and  sought  diligently  for  the  man,  and  found  him  and 
returned  with  him  to  the  tent ;  and  when  he  had  entreated 
him  kindly,  he  sent  him  away  on  the  morrow  with  gifts. 

14.  And  God  spake  again  unto  Abraham,  saying,  "  For 
this,  thy  sin,  shall  thy  seed  be  afflicted  four  hundred  years  in 
a  strange  land ; 

15.  "  But  for  thy  repentance  will  I  deliver  them ;    and 
they  shall  come  forth  with  power,  and  with  gladness  of  heart, 
and  with  much  substance." 


NUMBER  NINE. 

WASHINGTON'S  DIARY.— ROBERTSON'S  MINIATURES  OF   GEN 
ERAL  AND   MRS.    WASHINGTON. 

A  portion  of  General  "Washington's  Diary  the  property  of  Mr.  J.  Carson  Brevoort — 
Recently  printed  for  private  circulation — Illness  of  Washington  in  the  summer 
of  1789 — Tour  in  the  East  partly  to  recruit  his  health — A  considerable  portion  of 
the  Diary  relates  to  this  tour — "Washington  consults  his  friends  as  to  the  expedien 
cy  of  the  tour— Their  opinion— Anecdote  of  Henry  IV.  of  France,  and  his  ministers 
Yilleroi,  Sully,  and  Jeannin — Robertson's  miniature  of  Gen.  "Washington  forms  the 
vignette  to  this  edition  of  the  Diary — Account  of  Robertson — And  his  likenesses  of 
General  and  Mrs.  "Washington— Colonel  Trumbull's  opinion— Photographic  copies 
—Pine's  portrait  of  "Washington  in  Mr.  Brevoort's  possession— Gen.  "Washington's 
letter  about  it — An  original  letter  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington  in  reply  to  a  request 
to  sit  for  his  portrait  to  Mr.  Inman. 

IT  was  known  to  the  friends  of  the  late  Henry  Brevoort, 
Esq.,  of  New  York,  during  his  lifetime,  that,  among  many 
other  treasures  of  history,  literature,  and  art,  he  was  in  pos 
session  of  a  portion  of  the  original  Diary  of  Washington.  It 
was  shown  by  him  to  persons  not  likely  to  make  an  improper 
use  of  it,  but  obvious  considerations  dictated  the  delay  of  its 
publication  while  many  of  those  named  in  it  were  still  living. 
The  reasons  for  withholding  it  from  the  public  eye  have  of 
course  been  steadily  losing  their  force  with  the  lapse  of  time. 
Mr.  J.  Carson  Brevoort,  the  present  possessor  of  the  precious 
relic,  has  been  able  to  allow  its  perusal  with  less  reserve,  and 
has  occasionally  permitted  it  to  be  transcribed  for  persons 
engaged  in  historical  researches.  Four  years  ago,  while  the 
guest  of  Mr.  Bancroft  at  Newport,  I  enjoyed  the  privilege  of 
4* 


82  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

reading  a  copy  of  it,  which  he  had  had  the  opportunity  of 
adding  to  his  invaluable  collection  of  original  documents  per 
taining  to  American  history,  and  he  was  kind  enough  to  allow 
it  to  be  copied  for  me,  with  a  minute  accuracy,  extending  to 
the  nicest  details  of  orthography  and  punctuation.  Within  a 
few  months,  Mr.  Carson  Brevoort  has  permitted  an  edition 
of  one  hundred  copies  of  it  to  be  printed  for  private  circula 
tion.  As  soon  as  this  fact  was  announced,  I  felt  at  liberty  to 
furnish  to  the  editor  of  the  "  Portsmouth  (N.  II.)  Journal " 
at  his  request,  the  portion  of  the  Diary  narrating  General 
Washington's  visit  to  Portsmouth,  which  I  had  read  by  way 
of  introduction  to  my  Address  on  its  repetition  at  that  place. 
This  I  presume  was  the  first  occasion  on  which  any  consid 
erable  portion  of  this  Diary  wras  committed  to  the  Press. 
No  reason  for  limiting  the  number  of  copies  of  this  most  in 
teresting  document  seems  now  to  exist,  and  I  venture  to 
recommend  to  the  accomplished  owner  of  the  manuscript,  to 
allow  an  edition  of  it  to  be  published  for  general  circulation. 
The  present  publication,  as  may  be  inferred  by  the  initials 
appended  to  the  introductory  remarks,  B.  J.  L.,  has  been 
made  under  the  supervision  of  a  gentleman,  to  whose  labors 
and  researches,  in  illustrating  the  localities  and  personalities 
of  the  Revolution,  the  student  of  our  history  is  deeply  in 
debted.  He  has  in  this  edition  of  the  Diary  given  a  few 
valuable  explanatory  and  illustrative  remarks. 

This  part  of  Washington's  Diary  is  one  of  a  considerable 
series,  of  which  some  portions  are  in  the  Department  of  State 
at  the  seat  of  government,  and  other  portions  are  believed  to 
be  in  private  hands.  "  It  is  in  a  small  oblong  volume,"  not 
bound  in  stiff  covers,  but  sewed  in  old-fashioned  marble  paper, 
"  about  four  inches  in  width  and  six  in  length,  containing 
sixty-six  leaves,"  written  throughout  in  the  well  known  firm 
and  legible  hand  of  Washington,  with  very  few  erasures,  and 
an  occasional  blank  left  to  be  filled  up  on  subsequent  inquiry. 
It  was  evidently  of  a  size  intended  to  be  carried  in  the  coat 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  83 

pocket,  both  for  convenience  at  the  time,  and  in  order  to 
avoid  exposing  larger  portions  of  the  Diary  to  risk  of  loss  at 
once. 

The  new  government,  as  is  well  known,  went  into  opera 
tion  nominally  on  the  4th  of  March,  1789,  just  seventy  years 
ago  the  present  year, — but  not  in  reality  for  some  weeks  later. 
Such  distrust  pervaded  the  country  of  the  reality  of  the  new 
order  of  things,  that  the  members  of  the  first  Congress  assem 
bled  too  slowly  to  form  a  quorum  of  the  two  houses  before 
the  sixth  of  April.  The  oaths  of  office  were  administered  to 
President  Washington  by  Chancellor  Livingston,  in  the  open 
balcony  of  what  was  called  Federal  Hall,  in  Wall  street 
New  York,  on  the  30th  of  that  month.  In  the  course  of  the 
summer,  the  President  was  taken  down  by  the  most  severe 
illness  he  had  ever  known,  and  his  life  for  some  days  was 
thought  to  be  in  danger.  He  was  confined  to  his  bed  for  six 
weeks,  attended  by  Dr.  Bard,  a  physician  of  the  highest  repu 
tation  both  professional  and  personal,  who  was  thought, 
under  Providence,  by  his  judicious  and  devoted  attentions,  to 
have  saved  the  precious  life  confided  to  his  care.  General 
Washington  never  entirely  recovered  from  the  effects  of  this 
attack. 

To  recruit  his  health  after  this  severe  illness,  as  well  as 
for  general  purposes  of  observation,  the  President  determined 
on  a  tour  of  observation  in  the  Autumn  of  the  year,  and  a 
considerable  part  of  this  portion  of  the  Diary  is  devoted  to 
the  events  of  this  journey,  which  commenced  on  Thursday  the 
15th  of  October,  and  terminated  on  Saturday  the  13th  of  No 
vember.  Before  finally  making  up  his  mind  to  the  proposed 
tour,  General  Washington,  according  to  his  custom,  took  the 
advice  of  some  of  those  in  whose  judgment  he  confided  on  the 
expediency  of  the  step.  The  following  interesting  extracts 
from  the  Diary  will  show  the  pains  which  he  took  in  obtain 
ing  and  recording  the  views  of  those  whom  he  consulted  : 

"  Monday  5th.  [of  October  1789.]    Had  conversation  with  Col.  Ham- 


84:  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

ilton  on  the  propriety  of  making  a  tour  through  the  Eastern  States  during 
the  recess  of  Congress,  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  the  face  of  the  Country  ; 
the  growth  and  agriculture  thereof — and  the  temper  and  disposition  of 
the  inhabitants  towards  the  new  government,  who  thought  it  a  very  de 
sirable  plan  and  advised  it  accordingly." 

"  Tuesday  6th.  Conversed  with  Gen.  Knox,  Secretary  at  war,  on  the 
above  tour,  who  also  recommended  it  accordingly." 

"Wednesday  7th.  Upon  consulting  Mr.  Jay  on  the  propriety  of  my 
intended  tour  in  the  Eastern  States,  he  highly  approved  of  it,  but  ob 
served  a  similar  visit  w'd  be  expected  by  those  of  the  Southern." 

"  Thursday  8th.  Mr.  Madison  took  his  leave  to-day.  He  saw  no  im 
propriety  in  my  trip  to  the  Eastward." 

The  different  replies  of  the  distinguished  persons  consulted 
by  Washington,  on  this  occasion,  are  somewhat  characteristic, 
and  remind  one  of  the  manner  in  which  Henry  IV.  of 
France  illustrated,  in  the  presence  of  a  foreign  Minister,  the 
different  dispositions  of  his  three  ministers  Sully,  Villeroi,  and 
Jeannin.  Col.  Hamilton,  ever  prompt  and  decided,  "  thought 
it  a  very  desirable  plan  and  advised  it  accordingly."  With 
Gen.  Knox  "  he  converses  on  the  above  tour,"  and  the  veteran 
artillerist,  satisfied  that  his  chief  inclines  to  the  measure, 
simply  "  recommends  it  accordingly."  Jay,  the  most  cautious 
and  prudent  of  men,  "  highly  approved  of  the  intended  tour  ;" 
but  saw  that  in  justice  and  policy,  a  similar  visit  would  be  ex 
pected  in  the  other  portion  of  the  Union.  Mr.  Madison, 
slightly  non-committal,  neither  advised  nor  dissuaded ;  but, 
"  he  saw  no  impropriety  in  the  trip  to  the  Eastward."  Henry 
IV.  pointed  to  the  ceiling  of  the  reception-room  and  cried 
with  affected  alarm,  "  See  that  timber,  it  is  about  to  fall." 
Villeroi,  with  instant  compliance,  replied,  "  Sire,  it  must  be 
replaced  immediately."  Sully,  secure  in  his  royal  master's 
well-earned  confidence,  exclaims  with  the  bluntness  author 
ized  by  it,  "  Who  could  have  given  you  this  groundless  alarm, 
Sire  ;  it  will  last  longer  than  you  or  I  1 "  President  Jeannin, 
Avith  judicial  caution,  says,  "I  do  not  perceive,  Sire,  that 
there  is  anything  the  matter  with  it,  but  it  ought  to  be  ex 
amined  by  a  builder." 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNW  PAPEKS.  85 

The  very  first  page  of  the  Diary  shows  the  heavy  drafts 
made  upon  the  time  of  General  Washington  for  the  purpose 
of  sitting  for  his  portrait. 

"  Saturday,  the  3rd  [of  October,  1789,]  sat  for  Mr.  Rammage  near 
two  hours  to-day,  who  was  drawing  a  miniature  picture  of  me  for  Mrs. 
Washington." 

"  Walked  in  the  afternoon  and  sat  about  two  o'clock  for  Madame  de 
Brehan,  to  complete  a  miniature  profile  of  me  which  she  had  begun 
from  memory,  and  which  she  had  made  exceedingly  like  the  original." 

This  lady  was  the  sister  of  the  Count  de  Moustier,  the 
French  Minister  to  the  United  States,  and  with  her  son,  ac 
companied  her  brother  to  this  country.  They  all  visited 
Mount  Vernon  in  1788.  After  their  return  to  France,  her 
miniature  profile  was  engraved,  and  proof  impressions  of  it 
sent  by  the  Count  to  General  Washington.  The  original  of 
it  appears  also  to  have  been  intended  by  Madame  de  Brehan 
(or  Brienne)  for  Mrs.  Washington. 

An  original  likeness  of  Washington,  from  a  miniature  by 
Archibald  Robertson  painted  in  1792,  forms  the  vignette  to 
the  present  edition  of  the  Diary.  Robertson  came  to  this 
country  in  the  Spring  of  1791,  at  the  instance  of  the  Earl  of 
Buchan,  bringing  with  him,  as  a  present  to  Washington  from 
the  Earl,  a  box  made  of  the  wood  of  the  oak  tree  which 
sheltered  Wallace  after  the  battle  of  Falkirk.  No  impres 
sion  of  this  miniature  by  Robertson  had  ever  been  made,  be 
fore  it  was  engraved  in  wood  for  the  present  work. 

In  a  manuscript  left  by  Mr.  Robertson  (from  which  an 
extract  has  been  kindly  furnished  to  me  by  Mr.  T.  W.  C. 
Moore)  he  says — 

"The  first  sittings  for  the  original  miniature  of  General  and  Mrs. 
Washington  were  in  Philadelphia  toward  the  end  of  December  1791 
and  finished  in  January  1792.  In  the  succeeding  month  of  April,  the 
portrait  (in  oil)  of  Washington  for  Lord  Buchan  was  dispatched  by  Col. 
Lear,  then  on  a  mission  to  Europe.  His  Lordship  afterwards  expressed 
his  high  satisfaction  in  a  letter  of  thanks  to  the  artist.  The  original 
miniatures  he  (the  artist)  retains  in  his  own  possession,  and  intends  them 


OO  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

to  remain  in  his  family  an  heir-loom  and  memorial  of  his  veneration  for 
the  great  and  successful  champion  of  American  Liberty." 

It  is  evident  on  an  inspection  of  this  likeness  of  Washing 
ton,  that  it  was  painted  before  he  had  begun  to  wear  artificial 
teeth.  The  eye,  also,  I  am  told,  is  of  a  lighter  blue  than  the 
eye  in  Stuart's  portrait.  Mr.  William  Dunlap  in  an  article 
in  the  Atlantic  Magazine  of  1824,  says — • 

"  If  we  wish  to  behold  Washington,  when  he  began  to  wane  in  his 
latter  years,  when  he  had  lost  his  teeth,  but  with  full  vivacity  and  vigor 
of  eye,  looking  at  the  spectator,  we  must  behold  Robertson's  portrait  of 
him." 

These  interesting  miniatures  of  General  and  Mrs.  Washing 
ton  are  now  in  the  possession  of  the  granddaughter  of  the 
artist,  Miss  A.  Robertson  of  New  York,  who  two  or  three 
years  ago  kindly  permitted  a  few  photographic  copies  of  them 
to  be  taken,  for  a  pair  of  which  I  am  indebted  to  the  courtesy 
of  Mr.  Moore.  Being  mounted  as  a  brooch,  the  miniature 
of  the  General  are  somewhat  faded  by  exposure  to  solar 
light,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  the  lighter  blue  of  the  eye 
may  be  accounted  for  in  that  way.  It  is  scarcely  possible 
that  a  colorist  like  Stuart,  at  the  meridian  of  his  power  should 
have  failed  in  that  respect. 

In  the  manuscript  above  referred  to,  Mr.  Robertson  gives 
an  interesting  account  of  the  nervous  agitation  he  experienced, 
on  approaching  General  Washington.  It  is  one  among  the 
numberless  facts  showing  the  awe  which  was  felt  in  his  pres 
ence.  After  speaking  of  his  agitation  and  the  kind  attempts  of 
Washington  to  overcome  it,  he  proceeds : 

"  The  General,  not  finding  his  efforts  altogether  successful,  introduced 
me  to  Mrs.  Washington,  whose  easy,  polished,  and  familiar  gaiety  and 
ceaseless  cheerfulness  almost  accomplished  a  cure.  Another  effort  of 
the  President  to  compose  his  guest  was  at  a  family  dinner-party,  at  which 
the  General,  contrary  to  his  usual  habits,  engrossed  most  of  the  conver 
sation,  and  so  delighted  the  company  with  humorous  anecdotes,  that  he 
completely  set  the  table  in  a  roar." 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  87 

It  was  my  intention,  in  the  commencement  of  this  article, 
to  extract  some  of  the  more  interesting  portions  of  the  Diary, 
but  there  remains  too  little  space  for  that  purpose,  and  its  ful 
filment  must  be  deferred.  It  may  not  be  inappropriate  to  this 
description  of  Robertson's  miniature,  which  serves  as  a  vignette 
to  the  remarks  introductory  to  the  Diary,  to  observe  that  Mr. 
Carson  Brevoort  is  also  the  possessor  of  the  original  portrait  of 
Washington  by  Pine.  This  painting  which,  if  I  am  not  mista 
ken,  has  never  been  copied  nor  engraved,  is  one  of  extreme 
value.  I  hope  at  some  future  time,  with  the  permission  of  the 
liberal  proprietor  to  have  it  in  my  power  to  offer  the  readers 
of  the  Ledger  an  accurate  description  of  it.  It  is  the  portrait 
with  reference  to  which  Washington  gives  the  famous  good  na- 
tured  but  somewhat  plaintive  account  of  the  heavy  drafts  upon 
his  time,  required  to  satisfy  the  demands  for  his  likeness. 
It  is  in  the  following  words  : — 

President  Washington  to  Francis  HopTcinson,  Esq. 

MOUNT  YERNON,  16  J/«y,  1785. 

DEAR  SIR — In  for  a  penny  in  for  a  pound,  is  an  old  adage.  I  am  so 
hackneyed  to  the  touches  of  the  painter's  pencil,  that  I  am  altogether  at 
their  beck ;  and  sit,  "  like  Patience  on  a  Monument,"  whilst  they  are 
delineating  the  lines  of  my  face.  It  is  a  proof  among  many  others,  of 
what  habit  and  custom  can  accomplish.  At  first  I  was  as  impatient  at 
the  request,  and  as  restive  under  the  operation,  as  a  colt  is  under  the 
saddle.  The  next  time  I  submitted  very  reluctantly,  but  with  less  flounc 
ing.  Now,  no  dray-horse  moves  more  readily  to  his  thill,  than  I  to  the 
painter's  chair.  It  may  easily  be  conceived,  therefore,  that  I  yielded 
a  ready  obedience  to  your  request  and  to  the  views  of  Mr.  Pine. 

Letters  from  England  recommendatory  of  this  gentleman  came  to  my 
hands  previous  to  his  arrival ;  not  only  as  an  artist  of  genius  and  taste, 
but  as  one  who  had  shown  a  very  friendly  disposition  towards  this  coun 
try,  for  which  it  seems  he  had  been  marked. 

It  gave  me  pleasure  to  hear  from  you.  I  shall  always  feel  an  interest 
in  your  happiness,  and  with  Mrs.  Washington's  compliments  and  best 
wishes  joined  to  my  own  for  Mrs.  Hopkinson  and  yourself,  I  am,  &c. 

I  venture  to  subjoin,  by  way  of  comparison,  an  original 
letter  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington  on  a  similar  subject,  in 


88  THE  MOUNT  YEKNON  PAPERS. 

reply  to  an  application  which  I  made  to  him  in  behalf  of  our 
countryman,  Mr.  Inman.  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  add,  that 
a  short  time  after  the  following  letter  was  written,  the  Duke 
extended  a  courteous  invitation  to  Mr.  Inman  to  visit  him  at 
Srathfielclsaye,  of  which,  however,  he  was  unable  to  avail 
himself. 

The  Duke  of  Wellington  to  Mr.  Everett. 

LONDON,  22  Feb.,  1845. 

MY  DEAR  SIR — I  have  to  apologize  for  having  omitted  to  return  an 
answer  immediately  to  your  note  of  the  18th,  received  two  days  ago. 

I  am  much  flattered  by  the  desire  of  Mr.  Inman,  that  I  should  sit  to 
him  for  a  picture.  But  I  am  much  concerned  to  add  that,  during  the 
Session  of  Parliament  and  while  the  Court  is  in  town,  it  is  impossible  for 
me  to  find  time  which  I  can  devote  to  him. 

I  am  bankrupt  in  respect  to  portraits  and  busts.  I  am  certain  that 
there  are  not  less  than  a  dozen  artists  in  London,  with  commissions  to 
paint  portraits,  or  model  busts  of  me.  But  I  cannot  find  time  to  give  to 
any  one  a  sitting.  I  have  not  been  able  to  give  a  sitting  for  many  year's. 
I  receive  the  artists  at  my  houses  in  the  country  ;  either  Strathfieldsaye 
or  Walmer  Castle ;  and  give  them  sittings  at  their  leisure.  Wilkie, 
Chantrey,  Campbell,  Mr.  Lucas,  Mr.  Lister  and  others,  the  principal 
artists,  have  come  down  and  passed  their  three  or  four  days  at  my  house, 
and  I  really  can  find  no  other  time  to  give  them. 

In  the  last  autumn,  H.  M.  the  Queen  desired  me  to  sit  for  my  portrait 
for  the  King  of  the  French,  and  I  sat  at  Windsor  Castle,  instead  of  going 
out  hunting  one  day  and  shooting  another  with  his  Royal  Highness  Prince 
Albert. 

I  do  everything  in  my  power  to  have  time  at  my  disposition !  I  nev 
er  dine  in  company  on  the  days  on  which  the  house  of  Parliament,  of 
which  I  am  a  member,  sits  for  the  decision  of  business  !  Nor  go  out  in 
the  evening.  I  rise  early  and  go  to  bed  late. 

But  still  my  whole  time  is  occupied,  and  it  is  absolutely  impossible 
for  me  to  name  an  hour  at  which  I  could  receive  Mr.  Inman,  and  sit  to 
him  for  a  picture. 

Ever,  my  Dear  Sir,  yours  most  faithfully, 

WELLINGTON. 
EDWARD  EVERETT,  ESQ.,  No.  46  Grosvenor  Place. 


NUMBEE    TEN. 

WASHINGTON'S  DIARY. 

PART      II. 

Commencement  of  his  tour  to  the  Eastern  States  in  1789— "First  day's  journey  to  Eye— • 
Description  of  the  road — The  three  different  visits  of  Washington  to  this  part  of 
the  country — Second  day's  journey  to  F  airfield  and  description  of  the  road — Third 
day's  journey  to  New  Haven  through  Stratford  and  Milford— Description  of  New 
Haven— Sunday  passed  at  New  Haven— Fourth  day's  journey  to  Hartford 
through  Wallingford  and  Middlotown  and  incidents  by  the  way — Fifth  day's  jour 
ney  to  Springfield  and  description  of  that  place— Sixth  day's  journey  to  Spencer— 
Expross  received  at  Brookfield  from  Governor  Hancock — Seventh  day's  journey 
to  Worcester  and  arrangements  for  entering  Boston — Eighth  day's  journey  to 
Weston — Arrival  at  Boston  on  the  ninth  travelling  day  from  New  York. 

GENERAL  WASHINGTON  commenced  his  tour  in  the  Eastern 
States  on  the  15th  of  October,  1789,  starting  from  New  York 
where  he  then  resided  as  President  of  the  United  States. 
He  travelled  in  a  chariot  with  four  horses,  and  was  accom 
panied  by  Major  Jackson  as  his  official  Secretary,  by  Mr. 
Tobias  Lear,  his  private  Secretary,  and  by  six  servants, 
among  whom  was  his  man  Billy,  his  faithful  attendant  during 
the  revolutionary  war.  The  newly  appointed  Chief  Justice, 
Mr.  Jay,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Colonel  Hamilton, 
and  the  Sercretary  at  war,  (for  such  was  at  that  time  the 
official  designation,)  General  Knox,  accompanied  the  Presi 
dent  for  some  distance  from  the  city.  "  About  10  o'clock 
it  began  to  rain  and  continued  to  do  so  till  eleven,  when" 
they  "  arrived  at  the  house  of  one  Hoyatt,  who"  kept  "  a 
tavern  at  Kings-bridge,  where"  they  "  dined.  After  dinner 


90  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

through  frequent  light  showers,"  they  "  proceeded  to  the  tav 
ern  of  a  Mrs.  Haviland  at  Bye,  who"  kept  "  a  very  neat  and 
decent  inn." 

Such  was  the  commencement  of  the  journey,  substantial 
ly  in  the  words  of  General  Washington.  The  following  is 
his  description  verbatim  of  the  first  day's  progress,  which  is 
copied  as  a  specimen,  \vith  the  punctuation  and  capital  letters, 
as  they  appear  in  the  printed  diary. 

"  The  Road  for  the  greater  part,  indeed  the  whole  way,  was  very 
rough  and  stoney,  but  the  Land  strong,  well  covered  with  grass  and  a 
luxuriant  crop  of  Indian  Corn  intermixed  with  Pompions  (which  were  yet 
ungathered)  in  the  field.  We  met  four  droves  of  Beef  Cattle  for  the 
New  York  Market,  (about  30  in  a  drove)  some  of  which  were  very  fine — 
also  a  flock  of  sheep  for  the  same  place.  We  scarcely  passed  a  farm  house 
that  did  not  abd.  in  Geese." 

"  Their  cattle  seemed  to  be  of  a  good  quality,  and  their  hogs  large, 
but  rather  long  legged.  No  dwelling  house  is  seen  without  a  Stone  or  a 
Brick  chimney,  and  rarely  any  without  a  shingled  roof — generally  the 
sides  are  of  shingles  also." 

"  The  distance  of  this  day's  travel  was  31  miles,  in  which  we  passed 
through  (after  leaving  the  Bridge)  East  Chester,  New  Rochelle  and 
Mamaroneck ;  but  as  these  places  (though  they  have  houses  of  worship  in 
them)  are  not  regularly  laid  out,  they  are  scarcely  to  be  distinguished  from 
the  intermediate  farms,  which  are  very  close  together — and  separated,  as 
one  Inclosure  from  another  is,  by  fences  of  stone,  which  are  indeed  easily 
made,  as  the  country  is  immensely  stoney.  Upon  inquiry  we  find  their 
crops  of  Wheat  and  Rye  have  been  abundant — though  of  the  first  they 
had  sown  rather  sparingly  on  acct.  of  the  destruction  which  had  of  late 
yea^s  been  made  of  that  grain  by  what  is  called  the  Hessian  fly." 

The  interesting  journey  thus  commenced  was  not  the  first 
which  Washington  had  made  in  this  direction.  The  life  of 
man  and  the  history  of  nations  present  few  contrasts  so  strik 
ing,  in  the  fortune  of  individuals  or  of  communities,  as  that 
which  marks  the  successive  visits  of  Washington  to  the  East 
ern  States.  On  the  20th  of  February,  1756,  he  started  from 
New  York,  with  one  or  two  brother  officers,  travelling  on 
horseback,  and  on  their  way  to  Boston.  He  was  at  that  time 


THE  MOUNT  VERXON  PAPEES.  91 

a  provincial  Colonel  and  had  been  despatched  by  his  superior 
officer  from  his  station  on  the  frontiers  of  Maryland  and  Vir 
ginia,  to  go  to  Boston  to  take  the  decision  of  Governor  Shirley 
who  had  just  been  appointed  Commander  in  chief,  on  a  ques 
tion  of  precedence  between  the  Crown  troops  and  those  called 
out  by  the  provinces.  The  fame  of  his  gallant  conduct  on  the 
disastrous  field  of  Braddock's  defeat  went  before  him,  and  the 
public  mind  seemed  already,  by  strange  presentiment,  to  be 
drawn  toward  the  future  hero  of  the  Revolution.  He  proba 
bly  kept  his  twenty  fifth  birthday  that  year  at  New  Haven. 
At  the  end  of  June  1775,  Washington  passed  through  New 
York  in  the  same  direction,  not  now  a  provincial  Colonel  in 
the  British  Service,  and  at  the  commencement  of  a  war  be 
tween  France  and  England  and  their  respective  colonies,  but 
as  the  Commander  in  chief  of  the  armies  of  the  Anglo-American 
Colonies,  rushing  to  the  field  in  the  war  of  Independence. 
And  now  having,  under  a  gracious  Providence,  and  through 
trials  of  undescribed  severity,  brought  that  war  to  an  aus 
picious  close,  he  was  commencing  the  same  journey  for  the 
third  time,  and  after  an  interval  of  thirty  three  years  since  the 
first  visit,  as  the  unanimously  elected  Chief  Magistrate  of  the 
United  States  of  America. 

The  party  started  the  second  day  from  the  widow  Havi- 
land's  at  Rye  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  breakfasted 
at  Stamford  (which  is  six  miles  distant  over  a  road  "  hilly  and 
immensely  stoney  and  trying  to  Wheels  and  Carriages)  at  one 
Webb's  a  tolerable  good  house,  but  not  equal  in  appearance 
or  reality  to  Mrs.  Haviland's."  They  stopped  at  Norwalk, 
which  is  ten  miles  further  to  feed  their  horses,  from  whence 
to  Fairfield  where  they  dined  and  lodged  was  twelve  miles. 

"  The  superb  Landscape  "  says  the  diary,  "  which  is  to  be  seen  from 
the  meeting  house  of  the  latter  [Fairfield],  is  a  rich  regalia.  We  found 
all  the  farmers  busily  employed  in  gathering,  grinding,  and  expressing 
the  juice  of  their  apples ;  the  crop  of  which  they  say  is  rather  above  medi 
ocrity.  The  average  crop  of  wheat  they  add,  is  about  15  bushels  to  the 


92  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

acre,  from  their  fallow  land — often  20  and  from  that  to  25.  The  Destruc 
tive  evidences  of  British  cruelty  are  yet  visible  both  in  Norwalk  and 
Fairfield ;  as  there  are  the  chimneys  of  many  burnt  houses  standing  in 
them  yet.  The  principal  export  from  Norwalk  and  Fairfield  is  Horses 
and  Cattle — salted  Beef  and  Pork — Lumber  and  Indian  Corn,  and  in  a 
small  degree  Wheat  and  Flour." 

On  the  third  day,  October  17th,  the  party  started  a  little 
after  sunrise  from  Fairfield,  and  breakfasted  at  Stratford, 
"  which  is  a  pretty  village  on  or  near  Stratford  River,"  after  a 
drive  of  ten  miles.  At  Stratford  the  President  was  received 
with  what  he  good-naturedly  calls  "an  effort  of  Military 
parade ;  and  was  attended  to  the  Ferry,  which  is  near  a  mile 
from  the  centre  of  the  Town,  by  sevl.  Gentlemen  on  horse 
back."  From  the  ferry  they  proceeded  about  three  miles  to 
Milford,  where  "  a  handsome  Cascade  over  the  Tumbling 
dam"  attracts  the  attention  of  the  illustrious  traveller,  "  but 
(he  adds)  one  of  the  prettiest  thing  of  this  kind  is  at  Stam 
ford,  occasioned  also  by  damming  the  water  for  their  mills  ;  it 
is  near  100  yards  in  width,  and  the  water  now  being  of  a 
proper  height,  and  the  rays  of  the  sun  striking  upon  it  as  we 
passed,  had  a  pretty  effect  upon  the  foaming  water  as  it  fell." 
The  reader  will  not  fail  to  observe,  that  is  the  third  occasion 
on  which  Washington  has  already  shown  a  taste  for  the  beau 
ties  of  natural  scenery,  in  which  it  has  been  sometimes  said 
he  was  deficient. 

From  Milford  the  party  took  the  lower  road  through 
West  Haven  and  arrived  at  New  Haven  before  two  o'clock, 
thus  having  time  to  walk  through  several  parts  of  the  city 
before  Dinner.  By  taking  the  lower  road  they  missed  a 
Committee  of  the  Assembly,  who  had  been  appointed  to  wait 
upon  the  President,  and  escort  him  into  town,  to  prepare  an 
Address,  and  to  conduct  him  when  he  should  leave  the  city. 

"  The  address,"-  says  the  diary,  "  was  presented  at  7  o'clock — and  at 
nine  I  received  another  address  from  the  Congregational  Clergy  of  the 
place.  Between  the  rect.  of  the  two  addresses  I  received  the  compli- 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  93 

rnent  of  a  visit  from  the  Govr.  Mr.  Huntington — the  Lieut.  Govr.   Mr. 
Wolcott — and  the  Mayor,  Mr.  Roger  Sherman." 

"  The  City  of  New  Haven  occupies  a  good  deal  of  ground,  but  is 
thinly,  though  regularly  laid  out  and  built.  The  number  of  souls  in  it 
are  said  to  be  about  4000.  There  is  an  Episcopal  Church  and  3  Con- 
gregational  meeting-IIouses  and  a  College,  in  which  there  are  at  this 
time  about  120  students  under  auspices  of  Doctr.  Styles.  The  Harbour 
of  this  place  is  not  good  for  large  vessels — abt.  16  belong  to  it.  The 
Linnen  manufacture  does  not  appear  to  be  of  so  much  importance  as  I 
had  been  led  to  believe.  In  a  word,  I  could  hear  but  little  of  it.  The 
Exports  from  this  city  aro  much  the  same  as  from  Fairfield,  &c.,  and 
flax-seed  (chiefly  to  New  York.)  The  road  from  Kingsbridge  to  this 
place  runs  as  near  the  Sound  as  the  Bays  and  Inlets  will  allow,  but  from 
hence  to  Hartford  it  leaves  the  Sound  and  runs  near  to  the  Northward." 

Sunday  the  18th  of  October  was  passed  by  the  President 
at  New  Haven,  and  according  to  his  general  practice  he  at 
tended  Church  both  parts  of  the  day.  In  the  morning  "  at 
the  Episcopal  Church,"  where  he  was  "  attended  by  the  Speak 
er  of  the  Assembly,  Mr.  Edwards,  and  a  Mr.  Ingersoll,'' 
and  in  the  afternoon  at  one  of  the  Congregational  Meeting- 
IIouses,  (so  the  President  discriminates  the  places  of  Wor 
ship,)  where  he  was  attended  "  by  the  Governor,  the  Lieut. 
Governor,  the  Mayor  and  the  Speaker." 

"  These  Gentlemen  (continues  the  diary)  all  dined  -with  me,  (by  invi 
tation,)  as  did  Genl.  Huntington,  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Brown,  where  I 
lodged,  and  who  keeps  a  good  Tavern.  Drank  Tea  at  the  Mayor's  (Mr. 

Sherman).     Upon  further  inquiry,  I  find  that  there  has  been  abt. 

yards  of  coarse  Linnen  manufactured  at  this  place  since  it  was  estab 
lished — and  that  a  Glass  work  is  on  foot  here,  for  the  manufacture  of 
Bottles.  At  7  o'clock  in  the  evening  many  Officers  of  this  State,  belong 
ing  to  the  late  Continental  army,  called  to  pay  their  respects  to  me.  By 
some  of  them  it  was  said  that  the  people  of  this  State  could,  with  more 
ease  pay  an  additional  100,000£  tax  this  Year  than,  what  was  laid  last 
Year." 

The  travellers  left  New  Haven  about  six  o'clock  in  the 
morning  of  the  19th,  (pretty  early  rising,  for  the  third  week 
of  October,)  and  reached  Wallingford  to  breakfast,  a  distance 


94:  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

of  about  thirteen  miles,  at  half  past  eight.  It  was  the  anniver 
sary  of  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis,  eight  years  before,  but 
the  Diary  is  silent  on  that  as  on  most  other  historical  remi 
niscences.  At  this  place  the  White  Mulberry,  "  raised  from 
the  seed  to  feed  the  silk  worm,"  attracts  the  President's  no 
tice. 

"  We  also,"  continues  the  diary,  "  saw  samples  of  lustring  (exceeding 
good)  which  had  been  manufactured  from  the  Cocoon  raised  in  this  town, 
and  silk  thread  very  fine.  This,  except  the  weaving,  is  the  work  of 
private  families,  without  interference  with  other  business,  and  is  likely  to 
turn  out  a  beneficial  amusement.  In  the  Township  of  Mansfield,  they 
are  further  advanced  in  this  business.  Wallingford  has  a  Church  and 
two  meeting-houses  in  it,  which  stand  upon  high  and  pleasant  grd. 
About  10  o'clock  we  left  this  place,  and  at  the  distance  of  8  miles  passed 
through  Durham.  At  one  we  arrived  at  Middletown  on  Connecticut 
River,  being  met  two  or  three  miles  from  it  by  the  respectable  citizens 
of  the  place  and  escorted  in  by  them.  While  dinner  was  getting  ready 
I  took  a  walk  round  the  Town,  from  the  heights  of  which  the  prospect  is 
beautiful.  Belonging  to  this  place,  I  was  informed  (by  a  Genl.  Sage)  that 
there  were  about  20  sea  vessels,  and  to  Weathersfield  higher  up,  22 — 
and  to  Hartford  the  like  number — other  places  on  the  River  have  their 
proportion — the  whole  amounting  to  about  10,000  tons." 

"  The  Country  hereabouts  is  beautiful  and  the  Lands  good.  *  *  * 
Having  dined  we  set  out  with  the  same  escort  (who  conducted  us  into 
town)  about  3  o'clock  for  Hartford,  and  passing  through  a  Parish  of 
Middletown  and  Weathersfield,  we  arrived  at  Hartford,  about  sundown. 
At  Weathersfield  we  were  met  by  a  party  of  the  Hartford  light  horse, 
and  a  number  of  Gentlemen  from  the  same  place  with  Col.  Wadsworth  at 
their  head,  and  escorted  to  Bull's  Tavern,  where  we  lodged." 

On  Tuesday  the  20th  after  breakfast,  accompanied  by  Col. 
Wadsworth,  Mr.  Ellsworth  and  Col.  Jesse  Root,  the  Presi 
dent  visited  the  woollen  factory  at  Hartford,  "  which  seemed 
to  be  going  on  with  spirit."  "  Their  Broadcloths,"  he  re 
marks,  "  are  not  of  the  first  quality  as  yet,  but  they  are  good  ; 
as  are  their  Coatings,  Cassimeres,  Serges,  and  Everlastings ; 
of  the  first,  that  is,  broadcloth,  I  ordered  a  suit  to  be  sent  to 
me  at  New  York — and  of  the  latter  a  whole  piece  to  make 
breeches  for  my  servants.  All  the  parts  of  this  business 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEKS.  95 

are  performed  at  the  Manufactory  except  the  spinning — this 
is  done  by  the  Country  People,  who  are  paid  by  the  cut." 

The  diary  gives  the  usual  account  of  the  general  appear 
ance,  population,  and  business  of  Hartford,  and  the  number 
of  the  churches  there  and  at  Middletown,  bestowing  that  name, 
on  this  occasion,  upon  the  places  of  congregational  worship. 
He  dined  and  drank  tea  at  Col.  Wadsworth's,  and  about  7 
o'clock  "received  from,  and  answered  the  address  of,  the 
Town  of  Hartford." 

On  Wednesday  the  21st  the  President  started  for  Spring 
field.  He  was  to  have  breakfasted  with  "  Mr.  Ellsworth" 
(afterwards  Chief  Justice  Oliver  Ellsworth)  at  Winsdor,  but 
a  heavy  rain  prevented  his  departure  till  half-past  ten.  He 
"  called  however  on  Mr.  Ellsworth  and  stay'd  there  near  an 
hour."  He  reached  Springfield  by  four  o'clock  ;  "  and  while 
dinner  was  getting  examined  the  continental  stores,"  which 
he  "  found  in  very  good  order  at  the  buildings  (on  the  hill 
above  the  town)  which  belonged  to  the  United  States."  "  The 
Elaboratory,"  continues  the  dairy,  "  which  seems  to  be  a 
good  building,  is  in  tolerable  good  repair,  and  the  Powder 
Magazine,  which  is  of  brick,  seems  to  be  in  excellent  order 
and  the  powder  in  it  very  dry.  A  Col.°  Worthington,  Col.° 
Williams,  Adjutant  General  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts, 
Gen.  Shepherd,  Mr.  Lyman,  and  many  other  Gentlemen  sat 
an  hour  or  two  with  me  in  the  evening  at  Parson's  Tavern 
where  I  lodged,  and  which  is  a  good  House." 

After  an  interesting  sketch  of  the  road  from  Hartford  and 
Springfield,  (the  distance  is  stated  to  be  twenty-eight  miles) 
the  navigation  of  the  river,  and  the  character  and  produce  of 
the  land,  the  record  of  the  21st  of  October  closes  with  the 
following  summary  description  of  Connecticut : 

"  There  is  a  great  equality  in  the  people  of  this  State.  Few  or  no 
opulent  men — and  no  poor — great  similitude  in  their  buildings — the 
general  fashion  of  which  is  a  chimney  (always  of  Stone  or  Brick)  and 
door  in  the  middle,  with  a  stair  case  fronting  the  latter,  running  up  by 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

the  side  of  the  former — two  flush  stories  with  a  very  good  show  of  sash 
and  glass  windows — the  size  generally  is  from  30  to  50  feet  in  length  and 
from  20  to  30  in  width,  exclusive  of  a  back  shed,  which  seems  to  be 
added  as  the  family  increases.  The  farms,  by  the  contiguity  of  the 
Houses,  are  small,  not  averaging  more  than  100  acres.  These  are 
worked  chiefly  by  Oxen  (which  have  no  other  feed  than  hay),  with  a 
horse  and  sometimes  two  before  them,  both  in  Plow  and  Cart.  In  their 
light  lands  and  in  their  sleighs  they  work  Horses,  but  find  them  much 
more  expensive  than  Oxen." 

On  Thursday,  the  22d,  the  President  left  Springfield  at 
seven  o'clock,  and  travelled  fifteen  miles  till  he  "came  to 
Palmer,  at  the  House  of  one  Scott,"  where  he  breakfasted. 
From  Palmer  to  Brookfield  "  to  one  Hitchcock's"  was  fifteen 
miles.  "  A  beautiful  fresh  water  pond  and  large  "  is  "  in  the 
Plain  of  Brookfield ;"  "  the  fashion  of  the  Houses "  was 
"  more  diversified  than  in  Connecticut,  though  many  are  built 
in  their  style." 

"At  Brookfield"  (says  the  diary)  "we  fed  the  Horses  and  dis 
patched  an  Express  which  was  sent  to  me  by  Govr.  Hancock — giving 
notice  of  the  measures  he  was  about  to  pursue  for  my  reception  on  the 
Road  and  in  Boston — with  a  request  to  lodge  at  his  House. 

"  Continued  on  to  Spencer,  10  miles  further,  through  pretty  good 
roads,  and  lodged  at  the  house  of  one  Jenks,  who  keeps  a  pretty  good 
Tavern." 

On  Friday  the  23d  says  the  President,  we  "  commenced 
our  course  with  the  sun  and  passing  through  Leicester  met 
some  Gentlemen  of  the  Town  of  Worcester,  on  the  line  be 
tween  it  and  the  former  to  escort  us.  Arrived  about  10 
o'clock  at  the  House  of  where  we  breakfasted — dis 
tance  from  Spencer  12  miles.  Here  we  were  received  by  a 
handsome  company  of  Militia  Artillery  in  Uniform,  who 
saluted  with  13  Guns  on  our  Entry  and  departure."  At 
Worcester,  a  Committee  of  the  citizens  of  Boston  and  an  Aid 
of  Major  Genl.  Brooks  (afterwards  Governor)  of  the  Mid 
dlesex  Militia  waited  on  the  President  to  make  "  arrange- 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  97 

ments  of  military  and  other  parade  "  on  his  way  to  and  in 
the  town  of  Boston.  "  Finding  this  Ceremony  was  not  to  be 
avoided  though  "  he  "  had  made  every  effort  to  do  it,"  the 
President  named  the  hour  of  ten  to  review  the  Middlesex 
Militia  at  Cambridge  and  twelve  for  entering  Boston.  He 
sent  word  at  the  same  time  to  General  Brooks,  that  conceiv 
ing  there  was  an  impropriety  in  his  reviewing  the  Militia  or 
seeing  them  perform  manceuvers,  otherwise  than  as  a  private 
man,  he  could  do  no  more  than  pass  along  the  line,  which 
might  be  under  arms  to  receive  him. 

After  breakfast  the  President  left  Worcester  under  es 
cort  and  at  the  line  between  the  Counties  was  met  by  a  troop 
of  Middlesex  Light  Horse  who  escorted  him  to  Marlborough 
where  he  dined  and  to  Weston  where  he  lodged.  Here  he 
was  met  by  Jonathan  Jackson,  Esqr.,  the  United  States 
Marshall  for  Massachusetts,  who  proposed  to  attend  the  Pres 
ident  while  lie  should  be  in  the  State.  On  Saturday  the  24th 
October,  the  President  started  from  Weston  at  8  o'clock  and 
reached  Cambridge  at  the  appointed  hour  of  ten.  "  Most  of 
the  Militia  having  a  distance  to  come  were  not  in  line  till 
after  eleven  ;  they  made  however  an  excellent  appearance 
with  Genl.  Brooks  at  their  head." 

Here  the  Lieutenant  Governor,  Samuel  Adams,  with  the 
Executive  of  the  State,  met  the  President  and,  says  the  diary, 
"  preceded  my  entrance  into  town — which  was  in  every  de 
gree  flattering  and  honorable." 

But  we  must  leave  the  Diary  for  the  present,  proposing  in 
another  paper  to  give  an  account  of  this  celebrated  entrance 
of  Washington  into  Boston,  which  at  the  time  was  a  matter 
of  no  little  public  interest  and  comment,  and  on  which  the 
Diary  throws  new  light. 


NUMBER    ELEVEN. 

LOUIS  NAPOLEON.— THREE  PHASES  IN  HIS  LIFE. 

The  Downfall  of  Napoleon  the  First— His  escape  from  Elba  in  1815— His  second  fall 
and  retirement  of  his  family  at  Koine — Louis  Napoleon  a  boy  at  his  father's  table 
— After  a  lapse  of  twenty -one  years  on  trial  for  his  life  at  Paris — His  appearance 
and  demeanor — His  imprisonment  at  Ham — The  revolution  of  February  1848  and 
downfall  of  Louis  Philippe — Ke-appearance  of  Louis  Napoleon  as  deputy,  Prince, 
President,  and  Emperor — General  character  of  his  administration — LTnscrupulous 
violence  of  the  party  press  under  Louis  Philippe— His  government  overturned  by 
leaders  who  aspired  only  to  supplant  his  ministers— the  Press  of  the  United 
States. 

I  REMARKED  in  the  last  number,  that  "  the  life  of  man  and 
the  history  of  nations  present  few  contrasts  so  striking,  in  the 
fortune  of  individuals  or  of  communities,  as  that  which  marks 
the  successive  visits  of  Washington  to  the  Eastern  States." 
As  far  as  the  fortune  of  individuals  is  concerned,  the  name, 
which  stands  at  the  head  of  this  article,  exhibits  a  contrast  of 
conditions,  at  different  periods  of  life,  quite  equal  to  that 
which  is  presented  in  the  career  of  Washington.  The  year 
1814  was  a  most  momentous  year  in  the  history  of  modern 
Europe.  The  great  drama  of  the  French  Revolution  seemed 
to  have  found  its  catastrophe.  Dethroned  kings  recovered 
their  sceptres  ;  needy  emigrants  returned  to  the  possession  of 
their  titles  and  the  hope  of  one  day  regaining  their  estates ; 
and  what  seemed  to  stamp  with  permanence  the  great  political 
and  social  restoration,  the  mighty  hero  of  this  wrorld-drama, 
crushed  by  the  armies  of  combined  Europe,  had  been  banished 
to  a  petty  islet  on  the  coast  of  Tuscany.  Peace  was  concluded 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  99 

between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  at  the  close  of 
the  year,  and  the  temple  of  Janus  was  shut. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  when,  on  the  12th  of  April 
1815,  I  sailed  for  Europe  in  a  ship  of  three  hundred  and  fifty 
tons,  which  at  that  time  was  thought  a  large  vessel.  It  was 
the  second  which  sailed  from  Boston  for  England  after  the 
peace,  a  fact  sufficiently  indicative  of  the  profound  torpor  into 
which  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  country  had  sunk  during 
the  war.  Intelligence  did  not  reach  us  from  Europe  every 
three  days,  as  it  does  now.  It  was  six  or  seven  weeks,  if  I 
recollect  right,  after  the  signature  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent  on 
Christmas  Eve,  1814,  before  the  welcome  news  reached  this 
country.  Between  that  event  and  our  arrival  in  Europe  a 
new  and  most  astonishing  revolution  had  taken  place.  It 
was  announced  to  us  by  the  pilot,  who  climbed  over  the  bul 
warks  of  our  little  vessel  off  Holyhead,  in  the  rather  homely 
statement  that  "  Boney  had  broke  loose  again."  The  suspi 
cion,  with  which  we  were  inclined  to  receive  this  news,  was 
soon  removed  by  the  sight  of  the  Liverpool  papers,  which 
contained  the  certain  intelligence  that  the  continent  of  Europe 
was  again  a-blaze  with  war. 

No  one  of  course  could  foretell  the  result  for  Napoleon  or 
for  Europe.  Lord  Byron,  in  a  conversation  which  I  had  with 
him  a  few  days  before  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  alluding  to  the 
conflict  which  was  evidently  impending,  expressed  the  opinion 
that  Napoleon  would  drive  the  Duke  of  Wellington.  This  he 
said  he  should  be  sorry  for,  as  he  did  not  wish  his  countrymen 
to  be  beaten,  adding,  however,  with  bitter  emphasis,  that  he 
would  tell  me  what  he  did  wish  to  see, — "  Lord  Castlereagh's 
head  carried  on  a  pike  beneath  his  windows."  But  in  a  few 
days  the  great  Message  of  Waterloo  (first  brought  by  a  clerk 
of  Rothschild,  in  advance  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington's  courier) 
arrived  from  Belgium,  and  in  a  few  weeks  the  curtain  again 
fell  on  the  mighty  drama,  (and  this  time  never  more  to  rise 
for  the  principal  actor,)  at  St  Helena. 


100  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEES. 

New  restorations  of  fugitive  kings,  new  return  of  emigrant 
nobles,  new  adjustments  of  the  political  relations  of  Europe, 
and  in  the  final  result,  the  kindred  of  the  fallen  hero,  consigned 
to  private  life  at  Rome. — Here  it  was  my  good  fortune,  in  the 
winter  of  1817-1818,  to  become  acquainted  with  the  venerable 
mother  of  an  emperor,  three  kings,  and  one  queen  ;  and  with 
those  of  her  children  who  were  living  at  Rome,  viz. :  the  Ex- 
King  Louis,  (the  father  of  the  present  Emperor  of  the  French ;) 
Lucian,  who  at  an  early  period  of  his  career  lost  the  favor  of 
his  imperial  brother  ;  and  the  princess  Borghese,  still  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  women  of  her  day,  and  as  amiable  as  she 
was  beautiful. 

In  the  course  of  the  winter  I  saw  for  the  first  time,  at 
dinner  at  his  father's  table,  the  present  emperor  of  the 
French,  than  a  boy  of  eleven  years  of  age.  The  party  was 
small,  and  being  very  near  the  ex-King,  when  we  were  invited 
to  seat  ourselves  unceremoniously,  I  was  about  to  place  my 
self  in  the  chair  next  him,  and  as  it  happened  on  his  right 
hand.  With  a  good-humored  smile,  as  if  not  wholly  in  ear 
nest,  he  requested  me  to  let  his  son  sit  there  and  to  accept  a 
seat  myself  on  his  left  hand. — It  probably  did  not  enter  even 
into  his  fond  imagination,  that  the  lad,  for  whom  he  claimed 
this  little  remnant  of  royal  deference,  would  one  day  sit  upon 
the  throne  of  his  Uncle.  I  have  no  distinct  recollections  of 
him  in  this  first  phase  of  his  life,  but  as  a  handsome,  well- 
behaved  youth,  with  an  expression  somewhat  beyond  his 
years,  of  mature  manners,  and  as  taking  little  part  in  the  con 
versation  of  the  dinner  table. 

Twenty  one  years  pass,  and  being  on  a  second  visit  to 
Europe  in  the  Summer  of  1840,  I  was  present  in  the  gallery 
of  the  house  of  Peers  in  Paris,  when  the  handsome,  well-be 
haved,  quiet  boy,  with  whom  I  had  dined  at  his  father's  table 
in  1819,  now  grown  up  to  a  resolute,  aspiring,  fearless  young 
man,  thirty  two  years  of  age,  was  on  trial  for  his  life,  after 
the  miscarriage  of  the  affair  at  Boulogne.  Four  years  (I 


THE    MOTJNT   VEKNOJST   PAPERS.  101 

think)  before,  a  similar  attempt  at  Strasburg  had  sent  him 
into  exile  in  the  United  States  and  England,  where  he  lived 
without  attracting  public  notice,  though  doubtless  cherishing 
the  visions,  which  \vere  one  day  to  burst  into  startling  real 
ities  for  himself  and  Europe.  Nothing  had  occurred  in  the 
twrenty  one  years  to  call  my  attention  to  him ;  but  when  I 
saw  him  on  trial  for  his  life  before  the  peers  of  France,  I 
could  not,  in  the  extreme  peril  in  wrhich  he  stood,  but  recol 
lect  with  emotion  under  what  different  circumstances  I  had 
first  seen  him.  His  demeanor  before  his  judges  was  firm, 
composed,  and  respectful.  The  French  criminal  jurispru 
dence  subjects  the  prisoner  to  a  severe  interrogatory,  for  a 
purpose  wholly  forbidden  by  our  law,  that  of  making  him,  if 
guilty,  criminate  himself.  As  far  as  I  could  judge,  the  young 
man  answered  with  frankness  the  questions  propounded  to  him, 
and  the  impression  made  by  him  on  his  judges, — certainly  the 
impression  on  the  crowded  galleries — was  decidedly  favorable. 

This  attempt  at  the  time  seemed  rash  almost  to  the  point 
of  insanity.  In  conversing  with  the  ex-King  of  Holland  a  few 
months  afterwards,  then  living  in  the  House  of  Alfieri,  at 
Florence,  he  expressed  the  opinion  to  me  that  it  was  a  guet- 
apens, — a  snare  set  for  his  son,  by  the  French  police,  in  order 
to  get  the  young  man  into  their  power.  I  have,  however, 
since  seen  it  stated,  that  the  attempt  was  by  no  means  so  rash 
as  it  seemed ;  that  an  understanding  had  taken  place  between 
Louis  Napoleon  and  the  regiment  stationed  at  Boulogne ;  and 
that,  a  day  or  two  before  his  landing,  in  consequence  of  some 
vague  rumor  having  reached  Paris,  that  the  troops  could  not 
be  relied  upon,  and  that  mischief  was  brewing,  another  regi 
ment  was  sent  to  that  city. 

The  young  man's  head  was  spared  and  he  was  sent  to  the 
fortress  of  Ham,  a  prisoner  for  life.  In  that  confinement  un 
questionably  his  character  ripened  for  the  empire.  His  occu 
pations,  never  frivolous,  assumed  a  severer  cast.  He  studied 
and  wrote  on  civil  engineering,  artillery,  and  the  political  sys- 


102  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

tern  of  his  Uncle,  and  escaped  from  the  fortress,  a  more  dan 
gerous  enemy  to  the  reigning  dynasty  than  he  went  in.  In 
eight  years  from  his  sentence  in  1840,  the  government  of 
Louis  Philippe  was  overturned,  as  good  a  one,  probably,  as 
France  could  bear,  though  far  too  bureaucratic  for  a  liberal 
government ;  too  mild  for  a  despotism.  It  promoted  the 
material  prosperity  of  France,  but  it  was  neither  feared  nor 
loved.  After  the  sad  death  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  it  had  no 
hold  upon  the  army — the  sole  efficient  prop  of  a  French 
throne.  The  old  nobility  affected  to  despise  it  though  they 
accepted  its  favors, — the  legitimists  hated  it, — the  republican 
factions  swore  its  downfall ; — and  the  mass  of  the  people, 
who  were  never  more  prosperous  than  under  Louis  Philippe, 
with  the  fatal  apathy  of  conservative  parties,  allowed  it  to  sink. 
— It  is  not  certain  that  anything  could  have  upheld  it  much 
longer,  for  as  was  wittily  said  by  one  of  Louis  Philippe's 
cabinet,  who  escaped  with  him  to  London,  "  there  are  two 
kinds  of  government  which  the  French  cannot  bear — one 
is  Republicanism, — the  other  Monarchy."  The  catastrophe, 
however,  was  dimly  foreseen,  for  it  was  said  by  the  same  ex- 
minister,  "  We  knew  we  were  living  on  the  crust  of  a  volcano, 
but  we  did  not  think  it  was  so  thin." 

But  the  volcano  burst  forth  in  February,  1848;  Louis 
Philippe  is  driven  into  exile  as  Charles  X.  had  been  before 
him,  the  streets  of  Paris  are  piled  with  barricades  and  drench 
ed  with  blood,  the  Tuileries  are  sacked,  Neuilly  is  ravaged, 
and  "  the  impossible  republic "  is  inaugurated.  Louis  Na 
poleon,  enrolled  as  a  special  constable  with  two  hundred 
thousand  other  citizens  of  London,  at  the  time  of  the  great 
chartist  demonstration  in  April,  is  elected  a  member  of  the 
ephemeral  chamber  ;  his  choice  as  Prince  President  soon  fol 
lows  ;  on  the  2d  of  December,  1852,  the  quiet  lad  of  1819, 
by  a  coup  d'  etat,  whose  unexampled  boldness  is  excelled  only 
by  its  success,  takes  possession  of  the  throne  of  France  ;  and 
it  devolved  upon  me,  in  an  official  capacity,  to  send  to  Mr. 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  103 

Kives,  the  American  Minister  in  Paris,  a  letter  of  credence  to 
the  government  of  his  Imperial  Majesty  Napoleon  the  Third. 

In  that  capacity  he  has  given  to  France  the  strongest  gov 
ernment, — equivalent,  I  fear,  in  that  country  to  the  -best  gov 
ernment, — which  she  has  had  since  the  downfall  of  his  uncle. — 
He  has  completed  public  works,  beneath  which  the  magnifi 
cent  profusion  of  Louis  the  fourteenth  staggered.  He  has 
decorated  and  improved  Paris  beyond  all  his  predecessors  on 
the  throne,  and  projected  and  accomplished  the  most  gigantic 
undertakings  throughout  the  interior  and  along  the  coasts  of 
France.  Abroad  he  has  consolidated  the  conquest  of  Algeria, 
— maintained  an  undoubted  superiority  for  France  over  the 
armies  of  England  associated  with  hers  in  the  Crimea ; — 
formed  a  firm  alliance  with  Great  Britain,  against  whom  his 
uncle  waged  an  internecine  war  for  twenty  years ;  and  has 
restored  his  country  to  her  former  rank  in  the  politics  of 
Europe.*  In  accomplishing  these  objects,  the  press  has  been 
fettered  and  the  tribune  silenced,  and  those  liberties,  which  the 
Anglo-Saxon  mind  regards  as  the  final  cause  of  the  political 
societies  of  men,  have  been  grievously  abridged.  But  France 
has  yet  to  show  that  she  is  capable  of  enjoying  them  in  peace. 

Happening  to  be  in  Paris  during  the  Summer  of  1840, 
and  in  the  habit  of  reading  the  principal  journals,  as  well 
those  adverse  as  friendly  to  the  government,  I  was  amazed 
at  the  virulence  and  ferocity  with  which  the  political  war  was 
carried  on.  Had  the  king  been  a  military  usurper  instead  of 
a  prince  succeeding  by  a  species  of  popular  choice  to  the 
throne,  in  the  place  of  one  who  had  forfeited  it  by  violating 
the  Constitution,  he  could  not  have  been  more  fiercely  as 
sailed,  and  that  by  some  of  the  most  vigorous  pens  in  France. 
Had  the  ministry,  instead  of  holding  power  on  the  tenure  of 
parliamentary  support,  been  solely  dependent  on  the  will  of 

*  This  was  written  before  the  war  of  1859,  which  has  shown  that  the 
Emperor  of  the  French,  to  all  his  other  extraordinary  endowment  unites 
a  military  capacity  of  the  highest  order. 


104:  THE  MOUNT  VEKNOX  PAPEES. 

a  despot,  they  could  not  have  encountered  a  deadlier  oppo 
sition.  The  government  was  eminently  pacific,  and  as  such, 
it  gave  France  a  breathing  space  after  the  conflicts  and  ex 
haustions  of  her  mighty  \vars ;  but  it  was  daily  denounced  as 
pusillanimous.  The  king  and  his  family  lavished  their  vast 
private  possessions  on  works  of  public  utility  and  private 
charity,  and  were  continually  libelled  as  selfish  and  sordid 
wretches.  When  the  law  was  appealed  to,  for  that  protec 
tion  of  their  personal  characters  from  those  outrages,  to  which 
the  humblest  are  entitled,  triumphant  verdicts  of  acquittal 
were  obtained  by  the  calumniators.  The  unreflecting  mass  of 
the  community,  in  the  enjoyment  of  peace  abroad  and  pros 
perity  at  home,  were  made  to  believe  that  they  were  the 
most  oppressed  and  insulted  of  nations.  Well  aware  from 
the  history  of  the  last  eighteen  centuries  of  the  fiery  suscepti 
bility  of  Gallic  blood,  instead  of  marvelling  at  the  Revolution 
of  February,  1848,  when  it  burst  out,  I  had  for  eight  years 
been  anticipating  it,  and  predicting  it  to  my  friends. 

That  revolution  which  extinguished  the  parliamentary 
liberties  of  France, — which  turned  into  dreamy  nonsense  the 
doctrinarian  wisdom  of  thirty  years, — and  joked  together  in 
one  common  humiliation,  the  leaders  of  the  rival  factions,  was 
the  work  of  party. — I  do  not  mean  that  there  was  nothing  to 
blame  on  the  part  of  the  king's  government,  but  on  the  23d 
of  February,  1848,  the  popular  leaders  thought  only  of  dis 
placing  their  opponents  in  the  ministry  ;  on  the  24th  they 
had  overturned  the  monarchy.  On  the  24th  of  February, 
1848,  they  drove  out  a  constitutional  king ;  on  the  2d  of  De 
cember,  1852,  they  were  marched  to  prison  under  the  bay 
onets  of  an  imperial  guard.  The  statesman  who  falls  at  the 
post  of  duty  commands  respect ;  the  politician  who  imperils 
the  great  interests  of  his  country  to  subvert  a  rival  is  a  public 
enemy,  and  merits  no  sympathy  if  crushed  himself  by  an  im 
partial  despotism. 

All  assumption  of  unconstitutional  power  is  usurpation, 
but  the  government  of  Louis  Napoleon  has  received  the 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  105 

sanction  of  an  overwhelming  majority  of  his  subjects.  M. 
Berry er,  in  his  late  defence  of  the  Count  de  Montalembert, 
says  that  he  has  seen  seventeen  governments  in  France. 
Of  these  seventeen  governments,  those  of  Louis  the  sixteenth 
and  Charles  the  tenth, — the  two  out  of  the  seventeen  least, 
respected  by  the  people  and  both  violently  superseded, — 
are  the  only  ones  which  ruled  by  a  regular  constitutional 
title.  It  is  a  fact  not  generally  known,  but  of  which  I  am  well 
informed,  that  in  overturning  the  government  in  1852,  Louis 
Napoleon,  did  but  anticipate  a  movement  of  the  Chambers 
against  himself.  The  resolution  was  formed  to  arrest  and 
impeach  him  and  no  alternative  remained  to  him  but  to  suc 
cumb  to  the  venal  demagogues  who,  under  the  abused  name 
of  constitutional  freedom,  had  brought  France  to  the  brink 
of  ruin,  or  to  extinguish  them  and  with  them,  for  the  time  at 
least,  the  parliamentary  liberties  of  the  country. 

It  is  painful  to  reflect  how  many  eloquent  pens  and  persua 
sive  voices  of  France  are  silenced  by  the  censor  ;  but  if  they 
did  not  join  in  the  clamor,  (some  of  them  did,)  they  held 
their  peace,  when  the  madness  of  party  rage,  by  unremitting 
assaults  on  a  mild  and  constitutional  government,  crushed  it 
beneath  a  load  of  undeserved  opprobrium.  They  have  their 
reward.  Would  that  our  beloved  country  might  profit  by 
the  example  !  The  Press  of  the  United  States  is  vigorous  and 
enterprising,  and  reaches  the  heart  of  the  community,  far  be 
yond  that  of  any  other  country.  It  is  for  good  or  for  evil, 
the  most  powerful  influence  that  acts  on  the  public  mind, — 
the  most  powerful  in  itself,  and  as  the  channel  through 
which  most  other  influences  act.  If  it  could  learn  that  an 
opponent  is  not  necessarily  an  unprincipled  and  selfish  ad 
venturer,  a  traitor,  a  coward,  and  a  knave  ;  and  that  our  neigh 
bors  on  an  average  are  as  honest  and  right  minded  as  our 
selves,  it  would  increase  its  own  power  and  the  great  inter 
ests  of  the  country  (which  languish  under  the  poison  of  our 
party  bitterness)  would  be  incalculably  promoted. 
5* 


NUMBER   TWELYE. 

WASHINGTON'S   DIARY. 

"Washington's  entrance  into  Boston  involved,  to  some  extent,  a  question  of  State  rights 
— Major  Russell's  account  inexact — General  Washington's  own  account — Gov. 
Hancock  abandons  his  ground  and  calls  first  on  the  President — Termination  of  the 
affair— Oratorio— Dinner  at  Fanueil  Hall— The  President  requested  to  sit  for  his 
portrait — Postponement  of  the  music  at  the  Oratorio — Duck  Manufactory  des 
cribed — Card  Manufactory — Visit  to  the  French  vessels  of  "War — Departure 
from  Boston  and  continuation  of  the  journey — Letter  to  Mr.  Taft  at  Uxb  ridge. 

THE  entrance  of  the  President  into  Boston  is  the  most  im 
portant  event  mentioned  in  the  Diary,  inasmuch  as  it  as 
sumed,  to  some  extent,  the  form  of  an  issue  between  State 
Rights  and  Federal  precedency.  We  have  already  seen  that 
Governor  Hancock  invited  the  President  to  be  his  guest,  dur 
ing  his  visit  to  Boston.  The  President,  in  reply  to  this  invi 
tation,  said  "  from  a  wish  to  avoid  giving  trouble  to  private 
families,  I  determined  on  leaving  New  York,  to  decline  the 
honor  of  any  invitations  to  quarters,  which  I  might  receive 
while  on  my  journey ;  and,  with  a  view  to  observe  this  rule, 
I  had  requested  a  gentleman  to  engage  lodgings  for  me  dur 
ing  my  stay  in  Boston."  On  the  receipt  of  this  letter,  Gov 
ernor  Hancock  despatched  a  second  express  to  the  President, 
inviting  him  and  his  suite  to  an  informal  dinner  on  his  ar 
rival  in  Boston.  This  invitation  meb  the  President  at  Weston 
and  was  accepted. 

Thus  far  all  seems  to  have  proceeded  harmoniously,  at 
least  to  outward  appearance.  Major  Russell,  however,  the 
veteran  Editor  of  the  Columbian  Centinel,  and  one  of  the 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  107 

committee  of  arrangements  for  the  reception  of  the  President 
states  in  an  interesting  letter  to  Mr.  Sparks  (Washington's 
writings  vol.  x.  p.  491)  that  a  collision  of  opinion  and  design 
existed  from  the  first  between  Governor  Hancock  and  the 
Committee  of  the  Citizens.  These  two  parties,  according  to 
the  Major,  made  arrangements  independently  of  each  other, 
and  without  mutual  consultation ;  the  Governor  as  we  have 
seen,  inviting  the  President  to  be  his  guest ; — the  Citizens  in 
forming  him  that  they  had  made  provision  for  his  accommoda 
tion.  Major  Russell  represents  that  the  express  sent  by  the 
Citizens  reached  the  President  first,  and  that  their  invitation 
was  accepted.  This  is  inexact.  The  Governor's  invitation  was 
received  at  Brookfield  and  declined ;  that  of  the  Citizens 
reached  the  President  the  day  after  at  Worcester,  but  he  had 
previously  informed  the  Governor  that  he  should  go  to  Lodg 
ings.  The  dissatisfaction  of  Governor  Hancock  did  not  there 
fore,  as  Major  Russell  supposed,  arise  from  his  having  been 
anticipated  by  the  Citizens,  such  not  having  been  the  fact. 

Major  Russell  states  another  fact  at  variance  with  the 
uniform  tradition.  He  says  that  the  Governor  "  claimed  the 
right  of  receiving  and  welcoming  in  person  the  expected 
guest,  on  his  arrival  at  the  boundary  of  the  Capital.  The 
Committee  on  their  part,  contended,  that,  as  the  President 
was  then  about  to  enter  the  town,  it  was  the  delegated  right 
of  the  Municipal  authorities  to  receive  and  bid  him  welcome ; 
that  it  was  in  their  opinion,  the  right  and  duty  of  the  Gov 
ernor  to  have  met  the  guests  at  the  boundary  of  the  State 
over  which  he  presided,  and  there  to  have  received  and  bid 
him  welcome  to  the  hospitalities  of  the  Commonwealth." 

This  was,  in  Major  Russell's  recollection  the  matter  in 
controversy  ;  and  he  further  represents  that,  as  the  President 
was  approaching  the  town,  "  both  authorities  remained  in 
their  carriages,  while  the  aids  and  Marshals  were  rapidly 
posting  between  them.  Both  contended  that  the  point  of  eti 
quette  was  on  their  side.  The  day  was  unusually  cold  and 


108  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  TAPERS. 

murky.  The  President  with  the  Secretary  had  been  mounted 
for  a  considerable  time  on  the  Neck,  waiting  to  enter  the 
town.  He  made  enquiry  of  the  cause  of  the  delay,  and  on 
receiving  information  of  the  important  difficulty,  is  said  to 
have  expressed  impatience.  Turning  to  Major  Jackson,  his 
Secretary,  he  asked,  '  Is  there  no  other  avenue  to  the  town  ?' 
And  he  was  in  the  act  of  turning  his  charger,  when  he  was 
informed  that  the  controversy  was  over,  and  that  he  would 
be  received  by  the  Municipal  authorities." 

There  must,  however,  be  much  inaccuracy  in  this  account, 
written  after  an  interval  of  forty  four  years.  That  a  tedious 
delay  took  place  is  no  doubt  true ;  it  is  rarely  wanting  on  oc 
casion  of  extensive  civic  and  military  processions.  But  that 
Governor  Hancock  claimed  the  right  of  receiving  the  Presi 
dent  in  person  at  the  entrance  of  the  town,  and  was  even 
struggling  with  the  city  authorities  for  an  hour  or  two  to  effect 
that  object,  while  the  President  was  kept  waiting,  is  in  the 
highest  degree  improbable  in  itself,  as  it  is  contrary  to  the 
uniform  tradition,  and  wholly  inconsistent  with  the  fact  that, 
in  two  or  three  hours  afterwrard,  the  Governor  sent  a  message 
to  the  President,  that  he  was  too  ill  to  call  upon  him  at  his 
lodgings.  General  Sullivan  in  his  Familiar  Letters,  states 
that  during  the  detention,  wrhich,  from  whatever  cause,  un 
doubtedly  took  place  at  the  entrance  of  Boston,  the  President 
was  exposed  to  a  raw  northeast  wind,  by  which  exposure  he 
wras  visited  by  a  severe  cold.  Many  other  persons  were  ex 
posed  and  affected  in  like  manner,  and  the  affection  became 
so  general,  as  to  be  called  the  "  Washington  Influenza."  Gen 
eral  Washington  rode  on  a  white  charger,  with  his  hat  off, 
not  bowing  to  the  spectators  as  he  passed,  but  sitting  his  horse 
with  a  calm  dignified  air.  The  following  is  the  President's 
own  account  of  his  entree  in  which  the  reader  will  perceive 
that  there  is  no  mention  of  any  such  collision  of  authorities 
as  Major  Russell  records, — a  circumstance  too  remarkable, 
one  would  think,  to  have  been  omitted  had  it  taken  place. 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS .  109 

"  To  pass  over  the  Minutiae  of  the  arrangements  for  this  purpose,  it 
may  suffice  to  say  that  at  the  entrance  I  was  welcomed  by  the  Selectmen 
in  a  body.     Then  following  the  Lieut.  Govr.  and  Council  in  the  order  we 
came  from  Cambridge,  (preceded  by  the  Town  Corps,  very  handsomely 
dressed,)  we  passed  through  the  Citizens  classed  in  their  different  pro 
fessions,  and  under  their  own  banners,  till  we  came  to  the  State  House, 
[the  old  State  House  at  the  head  of  State  Street]  ;  from  which  across  the 
Street  an  Arch  was  thrown  ;  in  the  front  of  which  was  this  Inscription . 
'  To  the  Man  who  unites  all  hearts' — and  on  the  other — '  To  Columbia's 
favorite  Son' — and  on  one  side  thereof  next  the  State  House,  in  a  pannel 
decorated  with  a  trophy,  composed  of  the  Arms  of  the  United  States — 
of  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts — and  our  French  Allies,  crowned 
with  a  wreath  of  Laurel,  was  this  Inscription — '  Boston  relieved  March 
17th,  1776.'     This  Arch  was  handsomely  ornamented,  and  over  the  cen 
tre  of  it  a  Canopy  was  erected  20  feet  high,  with  the  American  Eagle 
perched  on  the  top.     After  passing  through  the  Arch,  and  entering  the 
State  House,  at  the  So.  End  and  ascending  to  the  upper  floor  and  return 
ing  to  a  Balcony  at  the  No.  End ;  three  cheers  were  given  by  a  vast 
concourse  of  people  who  by  this  time  had  assembled  at  the  Arch — then 
followed  an  ode  composed  in  honor  of  the  President ;  and  well  sung  by 
a  band  of  select  singers — after  this  three  Cheers — followed  by  the  dif 
ferent  Professions  and  Mechanics  in  the  order  they  were  drawn  up  with 
their  colors  through  a  lane  of  People,  which  had  thronged  about  the  Arch 
under  which  they  had  passed.      The  Streets,  the  Doors,    windows   and 
tops  of  the  Houses  were  crowded  with  well  dressed  Ladies  and  Gentle 
men,     The  procession  being  over,  I  was  conducted  to  my  lodgings  at  a 
Widow  Ingersoll's,  (which  is  a  very  decent  and  good    house)   by  the 
Lieut.  Govr.  &  Council — accompanied  by  the  Vice-President,  where  they 
took  leave  of  me.     Having  engaged  yesterday  to  take  an  informal  din 
ner  with  the  Govr.  to-day,  but  under  a  full   persuasion   that   he  would 
have  waited  upon  me  so  soon  as  I  should  have  arrived — I  excused  my 
self,  upon  his  not  doing  it,  and  informing  me  thro'  his  Secretary  that  he 
was   too   much   indisposed  to  do  it,  being  resolved  to    receive  the  visit. 
Dined  at  my  Lodgings,  where  the  Vice-President  favored   me  with  his 
Company." 

It  is  plain  from  the  clause  italicized,  that  it  was  the  under 
standing  of  the  President  that  the  Governor  deemed  himself 
entitled  to  receive  the  first  visit,  as  Chief  Magistrate  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  which  the  President,  on  the  contrary  thought  due 
to  himself  as  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  whole  United  States, 


110          THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

Massachusetts  included.  There  is  no  doubt,  that  Governor 
Hancock  entertained  this  opinion  conscientiously.  Had  he 
firmly  adhered  to  it,  testifying  in  every  other  respect,  all  pos 
sible  consideration  for  the  President  of  the  United  States,  his 
opinion,  "  though  most  persons  at  the  present  day,  as  then, 
\vould  propably  deem  it  erroneous,"  would  have  been  entitled 
to  respect,  certainly  as  held  by  so  distinguished  a  revolution 
ary  patriot.  His  friends  however,  Mr.  Sparks  informs  us, 
held  a  consultation  with  the  Governor  in  the  evening,  and  in 
compliance  with  their  advice,  he  wrote  the  following  not  very 
well  expressed  note  to  General  Washington  the  next  day. 

"  Sunday,  26  October,  half-past  Twelve  o'clock. 

"  The  Governor's  best  respects  to  the  President.  If  at  home  and  at 
leisure,  the  Governor  will  do  himself  the  honor  to  pay  his  respects  in  half 
an  hour.  This  would  have  been  done  much  sooner,  had  his  health  in 
any  degree  permitted.  He  now  hazards  everything  as  respects  his 
health,  for  the  desirable  purpose." 

To  this  note  the  President  returned  the  following  reply  : 

"  The  President  of  the  United  States  presents  his  best  respects  to  the 
Governor,  and  has  the  honor  to  inform  him,  that  he  shall  be  at  home  till 
two  o'clock. 

"  The  President  need  not  express  the  pleasure  which  it  will  give  him 
to  see  the  Governor ;  but  at  the  same  time  he  most  earnestly  begs  that 
the  Governor  will  not  hazard  his  health  on  the  occasion." 

The  Diary  of  Sunday  acquaints  us  with  the  result  of  these 
communications. 

"Sunday,  25th.  Attended  Divine  Service  at  the  Episcopal  Church 
whereof  Doctor  Parker  is  the  Incumbent,"  [Trinity  Church,  in  Summer 
Street]  "in  the  forenoon,  and  the  Congregational  Church  of  Mr. 
Thacher"  [in  Brattle  Street]  "  in  the  Afternoon.  Dined  at  my  lodgings 
with  the  Vice  President.  Mr.  Bowdoin  accompanied  me  to  both 
Churches.  Between  the  two  I  received  a  visit  from  the  Govr.,  who 
assured  me  that  indisposition  alone  prevented  his  doing  it  yesterday, 
that  he  was  still  indisposed  ;  but  as  it  had  been  suggested  that  he  expect- 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  Ill 

ed  to  receive  the  visit  of  the  President,  -which  he  knew  was  improper,  he 
was  resolved  at  all  haz'ds  to  pay  his  compliments  to-day.  The  Lieut. 
Gov'r  and  two  of  the  Council,  to  wit,  Heath  and  Russell,  were  sent  here 
last  night  to  express  the  Gov'rs  concern  that  he  had  not  been  in  a  con 
dition  to  call  upon  me  so  soon  as  I  came  to  town.  I  informed  them  in 
explicit  terms  that  I  should  not  see  the  Gov'r  unless  it  was  at  my  own 
lodgings." 

These  lodgings  were  in  the  house  still  standing,  at  the 
corner  of  Court  street  and  Tremont  street,  now  occupied  as  a 
grocery  on  the  ground  floor,  with  lawyers'  offices  above.  As 
a  dwelling  house  it  was  one  of  highly  respectable  appearance 
and  character  for  that  day. 

The  Diary  for  the  following  day  records  the  sad  conse 
quence  of  the  detention  and  exposure  of  the  President  on 
entering  the  town.  It  will  be  observed  that  he  calls  the  war 
of  the  revolution  "  the  dispute  with  Great  Britain."  This 
was  frequently  done  by  the  worthies  of  that  day,  reserving 
the  name  of  "  War"  for  the  struggle  between  England  and 
France  of  1756. 

"  Monday  26.  The  day  being  rainy  and  stormy,  myself  much  disor 
dered  by  a  cold  and  inflammation  in  the  left  eye,  I  was  prevented  from 
visiting  Lexington  (where  the  first  blood  in  the  dispute  with  G.  Britain 
was  drawn) .  Rec'd  the  compliments  of  many  visitors  to-day.  Mr.  Dai- 
ton  and  Gen'l  Cobb  dined  with  me,  and  in  the  evening  [I]  drank  Tea 
with  Gov'r  Hancock  and  called  upon  Mr.  Bowdoin  on  my  return  to  my 
lodgings." 

Thus  terminated  an  affair  without  serious  consequences 
and  without  scandal,  which  at  the  moment  assumed  an  alarm 
ing  character,  and  might  with  less  judicious  counsel  have  re 
sulted  in  permanent  mischief. 

The  events  of  Tuesday  and  Wednesday,  the  remaining 
days  of  Washington's  visit  to  Boston,  are  given  in  the  words 
of  the  Diary  : 

"  Tuesday  27th.  At  10  o'clock  in  the  morning,  received  the  visits 
of  the  Clergy  of  the  town.  At  11  went  to  an  Oratorio — and  between 


112  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

that  and  3  o'clock  rec'd  the  Addresses  of  the  Governor  and  Council — of 
the  town  of  Boston — of  the  President  &c.  of  Harvard  College,  and  the 
Cincinnati  of  the  State ;  after  wch  at  3  o'clock  at  a  large  and  elegant 
Dinner  at  Fanueil  Hall,  given  by  the  Gov'r  and  Council  and  spent  the 
evening  at  my  Lodgings.  When  the  Committee  from  the  Town  present 
ed  their  Address  it  was  accompanied  with  a  request  (in  behalf  they  said 
of  the  Ladies)  that  I  would  sit  to  have  my  Picture  taken  for  the  Hall, 
that  others  might  be  copied  from  it  for  the  use  of  their  respective  fami 
lies.  As  all  the  next  day  was  assigned  to  various  purposes,  and  I  was 
engaged  to  leave  town  on  Thursday  early,  I  informed  them  of  the  im 
practicability  of  my  doing  this,  but  that  I  would  have  it  drawn  when  I 
returned  to  New  York,  if  there  was  a  good  painter  there — or  by  Mr. 
Trumbull  when  he  should  arrive,  and  would  send  it  to  them." 

A  slight  mishap  occurred  at  the  Oratorio.  On  account  of 
the  indisposition  of  several  of  the  first  performers,  (as  stated 
in  the  Centinel  of  the  following  day,)  the  music  was  post 
poned  for  a  week.  "  Several  pieces,  however,  were  given 
which  merited  and  received  applause" !  Of  this  rather  serious 
drawback  to  the  success  of  an  Oratorio,  viz.  :  the  postpone 
ment  of  the  music  in  consequence  of  the  indisposition  of 
several  of  the  principal  performers,  all  mention  is  kindly 
omitted  in  the  Diary. 

"Wednesday  28th.  Went,  after  an  early  breakfast,  to  visit  the  duck 
manufactory,  which  appeared  to  be  carrying  on  with  spirit,  and  in  a 
prosperous  way.  They  have  manufactured  32  pieces  of  Duck  of  30  or  40 
yds.  each  in  a  week,  and  expect  in  a  short  time  to  increase  it  to 
They  have  28  looms  at  work,  and  14  Girls  spinning  with  Both  hands,  (the 
flax  being  fastened  to  their  Waist.)  Children  (girls)  turn  the  wheels 
for  them,  and  with  this  assistance  each  spinner  can  turn  out  14  Ibs.  of 
Thread  pr.  day  when  they  stick  to  it,  but  as  they  are  paid  by  the  piece, 
or  work  they  do,  there  is  no  other  restraint  upon  them  but  to  come  at  8 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  return  at  6  in  the  evening.  They  are  daugh 
ters  of  decayed  families,  and  are  girls  of  character — none  others  are  ad 
mitted.  The  number  of  hands  now  employed  in  the  different  parts  of 
the  work  is  but  the  Managers  expect  to  increase  them  to  .  This 
is  a  work  of  public  utility  and  private  advantage.  From  hence  I  went 
to  the  Card  Manufactory,  where  I  was  informed  about  900  hands  of  one 
kind  and  for  one  purpose  or  another — all  kinds  of  Cards  are  made  ;  and 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  113 

there  are  Machines  for  executing  every  part  of  the  work  in  a  new  and 
expeditious  man'r,  especially  in  cutting  and  bending  the  teeth,  wch.  is 
done  at  one  stroke.  They  have  made  63,000  pr.  of  Cards  in  a  year,  and 
can  undersell  the  imported  Cards — nay  Cards  of  this  Manufactory  have 
been  smuggled  into  England.  At  1 1  o'clock  I  embarked  on  board  the 
barge  Illustrious,  Captn.  Penthere  Gion,  and  visited  his  ship  and  the  Su 
perb,  another  74  Gun  Ship  in  the  Harbour  of  Boston,  about  4  miles  below 
the  Town.  Going  and  coming  I  was  saluted  by  the  two  frigates  which 
lye  near  the  wharves,  and  by  the  74s  after  I  had  been  on  board  of  them. 
I  was  also  saluted  going  and  coming  by  the  fort  on  Custle  Isld.  After 
my  return  I  dined  in  a  large  Company  at  Mr.  Bowdoin's,  and  went  to  the 
Assembly  in  the  evening,  where  (it  is  said)  there  were  upwards  of  100 
Ladies.  Their  appearance  was  elegant,  and  many  of  them  very  hand 
some  ;  the  room  is  small  but  neat  and  well  ornamented." 

The  President  left  Boston  the  following  morning.  His 
departure  was  fixed  at  eight  o'clock.  As  that  hour  was 
striking,  he  was  seen  in  the  door-way  of  his  lodgings,  and  at 
the  last  stroke  of  the  clock  he  started  with  his  suite.  The 
troop  of  Cavalry  appointed  to  escort  him  did  not  overtake 
him  till  nearly  arrived  at  Charlestown  Bridge.  On  his  way 
to  Salem  he  visited  Harvard  College,  where  he  expressed  the 
opinion  from  the  inspection  of  the  drawing,  that  the  inscrip 
tion  on  Dighton  rock,  is  the  work  of  our  aborigines.  From 
Cambridge  he  passed  through  Maiden,  Lynn  and  Marblehead 
to  Salem,  where  he  remained  over  night.  On  the  30th  he 
proceeded  to  Newburyport  and  lodged  there.  From  New- 
buryport  the  following  day  he  went  to  Portsmouth  and  re 
mained  there  till  Wednesday  the  4th  of  November,  when  he 
started  on  the  return  through  Exeter,  Haverhill,  Bradford,  An- 
dover,  Wilmington,  Watertown,  Needham,  Sherborne,  IIol- 
liston  and  Uxbridge.  Here  he  lodged  at  "  one  Taft's," 
where,  "  though  the  people  were  obliging  the  entertainment 
was  not  very  inviting."  The  following  letter  written  to  Mr. 
Taft  from  Hartford,  the  second  day  after  lodging  at  his  house, 
places  the  gentler  qualities  of  Washington's  character  in  a 
very  pleasing  light.  The  person  referred  to  by  the  name  of 
Polly  is  still  living. 


114:          THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

"  HAETFOBD,  8  Nov  :  1789. 

SIR — Being  informed  that  you  have  given  my  name  to  one  of  your 
sons,  and  called  another  after  Mrs.  Washington's  family,  and  being  more 
over  very  much  pleased  with  the  modest  and  innocent  looks  of  your  two 
daughters,  Patty  and  Polly,  I  do  for  these  reasons  send  each  of  these 
girls  a  piece  of  chintz  ;  and  to  Patty,  who  bears  the  name  of  Mrs.  Wash 
ington,  and  who  waited  more  upon  us  than  Polly  did,  I  send  five  guineas, 
with  which  she  may  buy  herself  any  little  ornaments  she  may  want,  or 
she  may  dispose  of  them  in  any  other  manner  more  agreeable  to  herself. 
As  I  do  not  give  these  things  with  a  view  to  have  it  talked  of,  or  even  to 
its  being  known,  the  less  there  is  said  about  it  the  better  you  will  please 
me ;  but,  that  I  may  be  sure  the  chintz  and  money  have  got  safe  to 
hand,  let  Patty,  who  I  dare  say  is  equal  to  it,  write  me  a  line  informing 
me  thereof,  directed  to  "  The  President  of  the  United  States  at  New 
York."  I  wish  you  and  your  family  well,  and  am  your  humble  servant, 

"  GEO.  WASHINGTON." 

I  should  have  been  pleased  to  be  able  to  extend  this  re 
view  and  abstract  of  President  Washington's  Diary,  but  I 
have  already  appropriated  to  it  as  much  space  as  can  be  giv 
en  up  to  one  subject.  The  extracts  submitted  to  the  reader 
will,  if  I  mistake  not,  throw  some  new  light  on  his  character, 
shewing  that  he  was  as  exact  and  methodical,  as  considerate 
and  gentle,  in  the  private  relations  and  minor  duties  of  life, 
as  he  was  grand  and  heroic  in  its  great  emergencies.  An 
edition  of  the  diary  for  general  circulation,  accompanied  with 
copious  notes,  and  illustrated  with  accounts  of  his  progress, 
the  addresses  made  to  him  and  his  replies,  and  the  other  in 
cidents  of  his  reception,  would  be  a  highly  valuable  con 
tribution  to  History. 


NUMBER  THIRTEEN. 

ABBOTSFORD  VISITED    AND    REVISITED. 

PART     I. 

Invitation  to  Abbotsford— Arrival  at  Mclrose— Bums  of  Melroso  hastily  visited— 
Walk  to  Abbotsford— And  reception  there— Church  at  Selkirk— Walk  to  the 
Mushroom  Park — Dogs  in  company,  who  accidentally  start  a  hare — The  house  and 
grounds — Ornaments  of  the  rooms — Reading  of  the  Heart  of  Mid  Lothian — Visit 
to  Melro&e — Manner  of  passing  the  time  at  Abbotsford— Charles  Scott — Departure 
for  Selkirk,  but  the  London  Mail  Coach  being  full,  return  to  Abbotsford— Sir 
Walters  fondness  for  animals,  dogs  and  cats— Piper  at  dinner. 

HAVING  had  the  happiness,  in  the  month  of  July,  1818,  to 
make  the  acquaintance  of  Sir  Walter  Scott  and  his  amiable 
family  at  Edinburgh,  I  was  honored  with  an  invitation  to 
visit  them  at  Abbotsford,  after  I  should  have  returned  from 
a  short  tour  in  Perthshire.  I  feel  that  there  is  a  sanctity  in 
private  life,  which  ought  to  be  respected,  even  after  all  con 
cerned  have  passed  away.  But  entertaining  no  feelings  but 
those  of  veneration  and  gratitude  toward  the  illustrious  name, 
which  stands  at  the  head  of  this  paper,  and  having  nothing  to 
record  of  him  and  his,  inconsistent  with  those  feelings,  I  trust 
that  I  shall  not  offend  the  strictest  delicacy,  in  describing  the 
occurrences  of  a  few  days  passed  within  his  family  cirde  in 
the  country, — and  very  much  in  the  language,  in  which  I  noted 
them  down  at  the  time. 

On  the  first  of  August,  1818, 1  took  passage  at  Edinburgh 
in  the  Bliicher  Stage  Coach  for  Melrose.  Passing  a  booksel 
ler's  as  we  drove  through  the  City,  I  saw  the  "  Heart  of  Mid- 


116  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEES. 

Lothian"  advertised,  and  the  good  natured  driver,  by  whose 
side  I  sat,  was  kind  enough  to  stop  while  I  ran  in  and  bought 
it.  This  proved  to  be  the  first  copy  of  that  novel  which  reach 
ed  Abbotsford,  excepting  the  copy  which  had  come  in  the  shape 
of  proof  sheets  to  the  (as  yet  unavowed)  author. 

It  is  another  of  the  thousand  illustrations  of  the  marvellous 
power  of  Scott's  genius,  that  the  most  remarkable  ruins  of 
the  most  remarkable  mediaeval  church  in  Scotland,  were  first 
raised  into  general  notoriety  and  classic  renown,  fifty  years 
ago,  by  "  the  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel."  I  shall  not  at 
tempt  to  describe  what  has  been  so  often  described  before, — 
the  ruins  of  the  Abbey,  the  Tweed,  and  the  Eildon  hills  which 
rise  in  front  of  you,  cleft  of  old  by  the  never-to-be  repeated 
words  of  the  mighty  wizard.  Although  I  expected  to  pass  two 
or  three  days  in  the  neighborhood,  I  could  not  resist  the  temp 
tation  to  take  in  advance  a  hasty  view  of  the  Abbey.  Those 
who  have  never  seen  the  ruins  of  a  grand  old  building, — what 
we  call  a  gothic  ruin  especially, — can  form  no  conception  of  its 
effect  on  the  feelings  of  a  young  traveller.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
striking  examples  of  the  mingled  interests  of  loveliness  and 
desolation ;  art  and  the  triumph  of  time  and  violence  over  art ; 
beauty  and  ashes,  that  can  be  seen  on  earth.  I  did  not,  indeed, 
on  this  occasion,  visit  "  fair  Melrose"  by  moonlight,  as  Scott 
says  all  must  do, "  who  would  view  it  aright,"  though  his 
daughter  Sophia  told  me  he  never  so  visited  it  himself.  I  think, 
however,  that  I  must  have  misunderstood  her,  or  that  she  must 
have  meant  that  he  was  not  then  in  the  habit  of  doing  it.  That 
he  had  never  surveyed  it  by  moonlight  is  hard  to  believe,  after 
reading  the  inimitable  description  in  "  the  Lay." 

But  whether  seen  by  sunlight  or  moonlight,  it  is  most 
beautiful  in  its  decay.  The  lightness  of  the  arches  ;  the  grace 
of  the  curves  ;  the  slender  airy  mullions  still  standing,  though 
sashes  and  painted  glass  have  long  been  gone ;  mysterious 
staircases  in  ruinous  turrets ;  the  fragments  of  pillars  scat 
tered  on  the  pavements  ;  broken,  uncouth  images  piously 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  117 

laid  up  against  the  walls  in  order  to  preserve  them  from  fur  • 
ther  injury  ;  the  tomb  of  Michael  Scott  and  of  Alexander  one 
of  the  kings  of  Scotland, — how  much  is  there  not  here, — es 
pecially  when  passed  through  the  prism  of  some  of  the  most 
admirable  strains  of  modem  poetry, — to  fire  a  youthful  imagi 
nation  !  But  I  shortened  my  visit,  hoping  before  I  left  the 
neighborhood  to  visit  Melrose  in  company  with  a  greater 
magician  than  he  that  sleeps  within  its  crumbling  vaults. 

While  I  was  making  my  solitary  pilgrimage  to  the  ruins, 
my  stage-coach  companions  were  ordering  dinner  at  the  inn  ; 
a  less  ethereal  gratification,  but  in  its  place  not  to  be  dis 
dained,  particularly  at  the  end  of  a  day's  journey,  and  in  the 
shape  of  trout  from  the  Tweed  and  green  peas  from  the  gar 
dens  on  its  banks.  After  dinner  I  started  on  foot  for  Abbots- 
ford,  distant  about  three  miles.  In  former  times,  and  when 
one  travelled  by  stage  coaches  and  post  chaises,  I  always,  in 
journeying  walked  as  much  as  possible  ;  and  surely  there 
could  be  no  occasion  when  one  would  more  wish  to  do  it,  than 
in  the  approach  of  Abbotsford  and  along  the  banks  of  the 
Tweed,  the  road  running  for  the  most  part  by  the  river's  side. 
A  short  hour  brought  me  to  my  destination  though  I  did  not  see 
the  house  till  I  was  close  upon  it,  so  thick  a  shrubbery  already 
clothed  a  spot,  which  only  six  years  before  was  entirely  bare. 

The  family  were  at  table  when  I  arrived,  the  dinner  hour 
being  earlier  than  I  thought ;  but  my  coming  in  caused  no  stir. 
I  was  received  as  an  old  acquaintance, — I  might  always  say 
friend.  Mr.  Scott  (for  such  he  then  was)  alluding  to  some 
remarks  that  had  passed  betwen  us  in  Edinburgh  about  the 
prodigious  effect  of  his  poems  in  turning  such  a  vast  amount 
of  travel  into  the  lake  region  of  Scotland,  scarcely  visited  be 
fore  except  by  an  occasional  antiquarian  tourist, — good  hu- 
moredly  asked,  "  whether  I  did  not  forgive  him  the  time  and 
money  he  had  cost  me  among  the  lochs  and  hills  ]"  Starting 
with  this  genial  salutation,  the  afternoon  and  evening  passed 
with  inconceivable  rapidity.  Sir  Walter  was  in  the  best  pos- 


118  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS, 

sible  spirits,  and  Sophia,  as  yet  "  fancy  free,"  sang  us  several 
ballads  with  the  most  touching  expression  and  pathos. 

The  next  day  was  Sunday.  Sir  Walter  gave  me  my 
choice  of  going  with  his  wife  and  daughters  to  church,  or 
walking  with  him  over  the  fields.  I  decided  for  the  former, 
and  drove  with  them  to  church  at  Selkirk.  The  intellectual 
portion  of  the  service  was  not  of  a  high  order,  but  the  devo 
tional  parts  were  performed  with  becoming  solemnity.  The 
singing  was  about  such  as  you  would  hear  from  a  well  trained 
choir  in  one  of  our  rural  churches  ; — and  it  was  a  matter  of 
no  little  gratification  to  me,  to  hear  some  of  the  fine  old 
familiar  tunes  sung  in  the  heart  of  the  strange  land  amidst 
so  many  impressive  associations,  and  by  the  voices  of  my  in 
teresting  companions.  • 

After  our  return  home,  we  walked  out,  in  the  hope  of 
meeting  Sir  Walter,  to  what  was  called  in  the  family  the 
"  Mushroom  park ; "  Mrs.  Scott,  the  young  ladies  and  Charles, — 
Walter,  the  oldest  son  being  in  the  highlands.  We  took  with 
us  a  pretty  formidable  attendance  of  dogs,  viz.,  the  favorite 
deer-hound,  Maida,  then  quite  advanced  in  years,  a  grey-hound, 
(who  was  however  black  and  called  Hamlet,)  a  spaniel  named 
Finette,  and  Urisk,  a  sprite  of  a  terrier  from  the  isle  of  Skye, 
all  well  known  favorites  and  privileged  companions  at  home 
and  abroad.  We  soon  fell  in  with  Sir  Walter,  who,  though  he 
had  been  on  his  feet  all  the  morning,  said  he  made  it  a  rule  nev 
er  to  turn  his  back  on  good  company  and  joined  us.  We  had  a 
scramble  in  the  park,  who  should  pick  up  the  best  mushrooms 
and  the  most  of  them.  The  visitor  was  allowed,  as  a  privileged 
person  unacquainted  with  the  localities,  to  enter  into  a  part 
nership  with  Miss  Scott,  and  of  course  their  joint  stock  was 
the  largest. 

While  we  were  busy  searching  for  mushrooms,  the  dogs, 
following  their  instinct,  were  busy  searching  for  a  hare.  It 
was  really  curious  to  see  the  approach  to  reason  on  the  part 
of  these  poor  animals.  The  grey-hound  is  swift  of  foot  but 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS.  119 

has  no  scent ;  the  spaniel  has  no  fleetness  but  has  an  acute 
smell.  The  spaniel's  nose  was  down  among  the  bushes  and 
her  whole  little  body  in  a  flutter  of  search,  whisking  from 
cover  to  cover  like  a  little  four-legged  spirit.  The  lean  and 
long-legged  grey-hound,  his  ribs  staring  through  his  skin, 
without  attempting  to  join  in  the  search,  kept  close  to  Finette. 
At  last  the  hare  was  started ;  the  grey-hound  bounded  off  like 
lightning  in  pursuit,  and  poor  little  Finette,  having  done  her 
duty,  came  fawning  round  her  master.  All  the  time,  the 
stately  old  deer-hound  was  stalking  about  with  sovereign 
unconcern ;  and  Urisk,  the  little  cur  from  the  isle  of  Skye, 
a  frisking,  bristling,  weird  looking  lump  of  live  hair,  was 
playing  with  Charles.  The  poor  hare  took  the  road  and  was 
soon  run  down  ;  and  then  the  old  deer-hound  stalked  majesti 
cally  toward  the  game ;  growled  sharply  at  Hamlet  to  drive 
him  off,  and  seizing  the  hare  in  his  teeth,  brought  it  with  great 
solemnity,  and  laid  it  at  Mr.  Scott's  feet.  The  affair  was 
every  way  out  of  season.  It  was  Sunday,  and  the  sporting 
season  had  not  begun ;  but  it  had  taken  place  accidentally, 
and  I  was  not  sorry  to  witness  the  sight  for  the  first  time  in 
my  life ;  though  not  without  compunction  for  poor  puss. 
The  scene  interested  me  the  more,  as  tallying  so  precisely 
with  Xenophon's  description  of  the  instincts  of  the  different 
species  of  dogs,  in  the  first  book  of  the  Cyropaedia. 

The  rest  of  the  day  was  passed  in  conversation,  in  part  of 
a  graver  cast.  We  had  sacred  music  after  dinner,  and  in  the 
evening  Sophia  sung  national  ballads  and  some  of  her  father's 
songs.  She  made  no  pretension  to  execution,  or  the  bravura 
style  ; — or  at  least  she  had  no  occasion  to  exhibit  it  in  these 
fine  old  Scottish  melodies  ; — but,  to  my  uneducated  ear,  noth 
ing  could  be  more  pleasing. 

On  Monday,  Sir  Walter  told  Sophia  to  show  me  the 
house  and  grounds,  adding  playfully  that  she  knew  a  great 
deal  more  about  both  than  he  did.  It  was  plain  to  see,  from 
the  manner  in  which  he  always  spoke  to  her,  that  she  was  the 


120  THE  MOUNT  VEBNON  PAPERS. 

object  of  his  entire  confidence  and  boundless  love.  The  house 
was  not  wholly  finished.  For  the  ornaments  of  the  hall  and 
passages,  Sir  Walter  had  introduced  casts^of  the  carved  work 
of  the  Abbey,  and  while  I  was  there,  the  workmen  were  put 
ting  up  masks  taken  from  the  "  Corbells  grotesque  and  grim," 
mentioned  in  "  the  Lay."  As  we  walked  through  the  grounds, 
I  had  a  long  conversation  with  Sophia  about  the  authorship  of 
the  novels.  I  omit  the  details  of  what  was  said  by  her  on 
this  subject,  having  furnished  them  to  my  friend  Mr.  Alli- 
bone,  for  insertion  in  his  second  volume,  which  has  not  yet 
appeared.  I  will  only  say  here,  that,  though  she  firmly  be 
lieved,  as  I  did,  that  her  father  was  the  author  of  the  novels, 
she  did  not  at  that  time  know  it.  We  passed  an  hour  or  two 
this  day  in  reading  the  "  Heart  of  Mid  Lothian  "  aloud,  Sir 
Walter  taking  his  turn  with  the  rest,  and  remarking  with 
unconcern  on  the  passages  that  struck  him.  He  was  much 
amused  at  my  attempt  to  imitate  the  Scottish  cadence,  and 
said  "  if  I  would  bide  awhile  in  Tweedale,  they  would  give 
me  a  very  pretty  accent." 

I  asked  Sophia  to  manage  to  have  dinner  a  little  earlier, 
that  we  might  go  to  Melrose,  and  to  get  her  father  to  go  with 
us.  She  said  he  had  so  often  been  there  with  visitors,  when 
he  first  came  to  Abbotsford,  that  he  had  got  tired  of  it,  and 
had  seldom  been  of  late ;  but  she  thought  he  would  go  with 
us,  which  he  was  kind  enough  to  do.  I  am  not  ashamed  to 
confess  that  a  visit  to  Melrose  Abbey,  with  Sir  Walter  Scott 
and  his  family,  kindled  my  imagination,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
four,  as  it  has  perhaps  never  been  excited  on  any  other  occa 
sion.  I  have  attempted  to  describe  the  feelings  awakened  by 
the  scene,  in  a  speech  at  the  anniversary  of  the  Scots'  Charita 
ble  Society  in  Boston,  on  the  30th  of  November,  1839.  Nor 
was  it,  I  own,  without  emotion  "  too  deep  for  tears,"  that,  in 
the  solitude  of  my  room  at  night,  after  contemplating  these 
interesting  ruins  in  the  company  of  him  who  has  made  the 
spot  which  they  cover  holy  ground,  I  reflected  that,  in  all 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  121 

human  probability,  after  one  or  two  more  days,  I  should  never 
see  him  or  them  again.  This  is  a  reflection  which  not  seldom 
mingles  a  shade  of  sadness  with  the  pleasure  one  derives  from 
meeting  agreeable  and  congenial  acquaintances  and  friends,  in 
our  travels  through  foreign  countries  and  distant  parts  of  our 
own.  I  must  own  that  in  two  or  three  days  I  had  become 
strongly  attached  to  every  member  of  the  amiable  family  at 
Abbotsford.  Our  whole  time  was  passed  together  in  conver 
sation,  reading,  or  singing  on  the  part  of  the  ladies  ;  at  dusk 
a  dance  on  the  lawn ;  in  walks  and  drives.  Sir  Walter 
poured  out  all  the  treasures  of  his  memory,  in  traditions 
of  the  border  times,  anecdotes  of  celebrated  characters,  in 
terspersed  with  constant  sallies  of  quiet  pleasantry ; — and 
Charles  contracted  so  great  a  fondness  for  the  American  guest, 
that  he  asked  his  father's  permission  to  accompany  me  on  my 
approaching  journey  to-  Greece  and  Constantinople,  which,  in 
consideration  of  his  being  under  thirteen  years  of  age,  was 
withheld.  Later  in  life  this  interesting  young  man  was  at 
tached  to  the  British  embassy  in  Persia.  In  1839  ho  wrote 
to  me  from  the  Foreign  Office  in  London,  reminding  me  of 
my  visit  twenty  one  years  before  to  his  father's ;  but  many 
years  since,  he,  with  all  the  rest  of  the  family,  one  after  an 
other,  passed  away. 

It  was  with  no  common  regret  that  I  took  my  leave  of 
the  family.  I  was  to  go  to  Selkirk  and  there  be  taken  up  by 
the  Mail  coach  for  London.  If  the  coach  was  full  I  was  to 
return  to  Abbotsford.  Mrs.  Scott  and  her  daughter  took  me 
to  Selkirk,  and  left  me  there.  Although  much  pressed  for 
time,  in  reference  to  the  commencement  of  my  tour  on  the 
Continent,  I  could  not  find  it  in  my  heart  to  grieve,  when  the 
Mail  coach  drove  up  and  was  reported  "  full."  It  shows  the 
limited  amount  of  travel  at  that  time,  that  one  Mail  coach 
daily  was  all  that  passed  on  that  route,  between  Scotland  and 
England.  It  was  now  evening.  I  made  myself  as  comfort 
able  as  I  could  that  night  at  Selkirk,  and  early  the  next  morn- 
0 


122  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS. 

ing  walked  over  to  Abbotsford  to  spend  the  day.  I  was 
received  there  as  an  old  friend.  The  young  ladies  said  that 
they  were  thankful  I  had  come,  for  now  they  should  have  a 
good  excuse  for  not  attending  their  master  upstairs.  I  in 
quired  of  them  what  they  were  studying,  and  they  said 
"  Tasso."  I  told  them  I  could  not  encourage  truancy  and 
idleness,  and,  taking  the  book  out  of  Anne's  hand,  began  to 
examine  them.  The  parents  entered  heartily  into  the  humor 
of  this  scene,  and  begged  me  to  be  strict  with  my  new 
scholars.  But  it  ended  in  a  hearty  laugh,  and  that  day  we 
made  but  little  progress  in  Tasso. 

At  dinner  the  veteran  deer-hound  made  his  appearance, 
and  laid  his  great  nose  upon  his  master's  arm.  He  had  al 
ready  been  fed  elsewhere,  but  he  received  a  bonne  louche 
from  Sir  Walter's  hand.  After  dinner  a  favorite  cat  placed 
herself  upon  the  table  near  him.  As  I  sat  next  he  begged  me 
not  to  be  disturbed.  He  caressed  the  animal,  wrho  was  evi 
dently  a  pet,  and  said  that  "  if  cats  were  as  well  treated  as 
dogs  they  would  be  as  gentle  and  faithful."  This  I  think 
somewhat  doubtful,  since,  if  the  experience  of  mankind  had 
not  shown  the  contrary  to  be  the  case,  there  is  no  reason  why 
they  should  not  have  secured  to  themselves  that  kind  treat 
ment  which  is  bestowed  on  dogs.  The  habits  and  instincts  of 
animals  were  a  favorite  topic  of  conversation  with  Sir  Walter. 
He  traced  the  practice  of  dogs,  in  turning  themselves  once  or 
twice  round,  before  they  lie  down,  to  their  habit  of  scooping 
out,  as  it  were,  a  bed  in  the  leaves,  while  in  a  state  of  nature. 

We  were  regaled  at  dinner  by  the  gardener,  in  the  charac 
ter  of  piper,  dressed  in  his  tartans,  and  playing  national  airs 
on  the  bagpipe  on  the  little  lawn  before  the  house.  For  this 
contribution  to  our  entertainment,  he  was  called  in  by  Sir 
Walter,  and  rewarded  with  a  glass  of  whiskey.  The  bagpipe 
at  the  banquet,  played  by  the  Chieftain's  piper,  is  a  part  of 
the  ancient  Celtic  state,  still  kept  up  in  the  great  Scottish 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  123 

houses.     Sir  Walter  clung  with  patriotic  fondness  to  these 
national  traditions. 

But  I  must  reserve  for  another  paper  the  rest  of  these 
recollections,  as  well  as  a  brief  account, — alas,  under  a  mourn 
ful  change  of  circumstances, — of  "  Abbotsford  revisited  "  after 
a  lapse  of  twenty  six  years. 


NUMBER    FOUKTEEN. 

THE   FOURTH   OF  MARCH,  1789. 

Commencement  of  the  present  United  States  Government  in  New  York,  seventy 
years  ago  this  day— Sketch  of  the  History  of  the  promulgation  and  ratification  of 
the  Constitution— Delay  in  organizing  the  new  Congress — Arrival  of  Washington 
at  New  York  and  his  inauguration — Question  as  to  the  titles  to  be  given  to  the 
President  and  Vice  President — Amusing  anecdote — Causes  of  the  prevailing  apa 
thy — The  general  languor  of  the  country  a  circumstance  favorable  to  a  peaceful 
revolution — No  such  revolution  possible  in  highly  prosperous  times — Much  owing 
to  the  disinterested  patriotism  of  the  revolutionary  and  constitutional  leaders  and 
especially  "Washington — Closing  reflection. 

ON  this  day  seventy  years  ago  an  event  took  place,  infe 
rior  in  importance  to  no  other,  in  the  history  of  the  country, 
if  to  any  other  in  the  political  history  of  the  world.  On  this 
day  seventy  years  ago,  the  present  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  became  "  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,"  and  New  York 
became  for  a  time  the  seat  of  the  new  government.  If,  as 
General  Hamilton  asserts  in  the  last  number  of  "  the  Fede 
ralist,"  the  "  establishment  of  a  Constitution,  in  time  of  pro 
found  peace,  by  the  voluntary  consent  of  a  whole  people,  is  a 
Prodigy"  that  prodigy  became  an  historical  fact  on  the  fourth 
of  March,  1789.  Let  us  dwell  upon  it  for  a  moment  in  reve 
rent  contemplation.  It  is  not  one  of  the  Prodigies  of  ancient 
fable,  which  told  how 

A  lioness  hath  whelped  in  the  streets, 

And  graves  have  yawned,  and  yielded  up  their  dead: 

Fierce  fiery  warriors  fight  upon  the  clouds, 

In  ranks  and  squadrons,  and  right  form  of  war, 

With  drizzled  blood  upon  the  Capitol: 

The  noise  of  battle  hurtled  in  the  air, 

Horses  do  neigh,  and  dying  men  did  groan, 

And  ghosts  did  shriek  and  squeal  about  the  streets. 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  125 

These  were  the  prodigies  which  foretold  the  assassination 
of  Caesar,  and  the  inauguration  of  a  despotism,  doomed  for 
fourteen  centuries  to  master  and  oppress  the  world.  Ours 
was  the  auspicious  Prodigy  of  a  well-compacted  republic, 
formed  by  the  counsels  of  unselfish  patriots,  pure  from  the 
stain  of  blood,  destined,  let  us  trust,  to  be  the  safe-guard  and 
the  blessing  of  far-distant  ages. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  finally  pro 
claimed  by  the  Federal  Convention  on  the  17th  of  September, 
1787,  and  was  on  that  day,  in  pursuance  of  an  unanimous 
vote  of  its  framers,  transmitted  to  the  Congress  of  the  Con 
federation,  then  sitting  at  New  York,  with  a  letter  signed  by 
George  Washington,  President  of  the  Convention.  The  Con 
stitution  itself  fixed  no  day  when  it  should  begin  to  be  of 
force,  as  the  supreme  law  of  the  land.  It  provided  only  that 
when  ratified  by  the  Conventions  of  nine  States  it  should  go 
into  operation  "  between  the  States  ratifying  the  same." 

With  this  provision  it  went  forth  to  the  States  and  to  the 
people,  to  be  ratified  by  their  Conventions.  It  was  a  season 
of  expectation,  of  anxiety,  and,  on  the  part  of  many  true  pa 
triots,  of  alarm.  The  people  were  divided  into  parties  ;  and 
a  document  so  extensive  and  comprehending  so  many  details 
of  course  presented  many  points  open  to  criticism.  By  many 
persons,  and  among  them  there  were  tried  patriots  and  good 
citizens,  the  proposed  new  government  seemed  to  be  fraught 
with  menace  to  the  hardly-earned,  dear-bought  rights  of  the 
States,  arid  liberties  of  the  people ;  by  others,  it  was  looked 
upon  as  the  only  hope  for  the  salvation  of  the  country. 
Washington  was  one  of  those  who  regarded  it  in  this  light. 
"  There  is  a  tradition,"  says  Mr.  Curtis  in  his  valuable  His 
tory  of  the  Constitution,  (vol.  II.,  p.  487,)  "  that  when  Wash 
ington  was  about  to  sign  the  instrument,  he  rose  from  his 
seat,  and,  holding  the  pen  in  his  hand,  after  a  short  pause, 
pronounced  these  words  : — '  Should  the  States  reject  this  ex 
cellent  Constitution,  the  probability  is  that  an  opportunity 


120  THE   MOUNT   VEItNON    PAPERS. 

will  never  again  offer  to  cancel  another  in  peace, — the  next 
will  be  drawn  in  Mood.7  " 

The  public  press  was  cnliste/1  on  both  sides  of  the  mo 
mentous  question.  Writers  of  great  ability  attacked  and 
defended  the  new  project  of  government,  but  the  letters  of 
Publius,  under  the  title  of"  the  Federalist,"  the  joint  work  of 
Alexander  Hamilton,  John  Jay,  and  James  Madison  have 
alone  survived  the  occasion  that  drew  them  forth,  and  de 
scended  with  a  classical  reputation.  The  first  number  of  this 
remarkable  series  of  papers  was  written  by  General  Hamil 
ton,  toward  the  end  of  the  month  of  October,  1787,  on  board 
a  packet  bound  up  the  North  River.  They  produced  a  great 
effect  on  the  public  mind,  and  formed  an  armory  of  weapons 
for  the  defence  of  the  Constitution,  throughout  the  country. 

Little  Delaware  led  off  with  her  ratification  on  the  7th  of 
December,  1787  ;  and  the  remaining  States  followed,  Pennsyl 
vania  on  the  12th  of  December ;  New  Jersey  on  the  18th  of 
December,  1787  ;  Georgia  on  the  2d  of  January,  1788  ;  Con 
necticut  on  the  Oth  of  January  ;  Massachusetts  on  the  6th  of 
February  ;  Maryland  on  the  28th  of  April ;  and  South  Caro 
lina  on  the  23d  of  May.  Eight  months  had  now  elapsed 
since  the  formation  of  the  Constitution,  and  eight  States  only 
had  ratified  it.  In  two  of  the  five  remaining  States,  viz.  : 
North  Carolina  in  the  South  and  Rhode  Island  in  the  North, 
no  ratification  was  at  present  expected  ;  and  the  other  three 
States,  New  Hampshire,  New  York,  arid  Virginia  were  yet  to 
act ;  thus  conferring  on  any  one  of  the  three  great  sections  of 
the  country  (for  the  West  at  that  time  had  not  been  called 
into  existence)  the  power  of  consummating  the  organization 
of  the  Union.  In  New  York  and  Virginia  a  very  formidable 
opposition  was  expected,  and  the  result  was  doubtful ;  every 
thing  for  the  moment  seemed  to  depend  on  New  Hampshire. 
On  the  2Jst  of  June,  1788,  her  ratification  took  place,  and 
with  it  the  Constitution,  as  between  the  nine  ratifying  States, 
became  the  supreme  law  of  the  land.  The  ratification  of  Vir- 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEES.  127 

ginia  followed  on  the  2<3th  of  Juno,  and  that  of  New  York  on 
the  26th  of  July.  North  Carolina  delayed  her  ratification 
till  the  21st  of  November,  1789  ;  and  Rhode  Island  hers  till 
the  29th  of  May,  1790. 

As  soon  as  the  ratification  of  nine  States  was  certified  to 
the  old  Congress,  (and  that  of  New  Hampshire,  all-important 
as  it  was  in  calling  the  new  government  into  being,  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  officially  reported  till  the  2d  of  July,) 
the  nine  ratifications  were  referred  to  a  Committee  to  examine 
the  same,  and  report  an  act  of  Congress  for  putting  the  Con 
stitution  into  operation,  "  in  pursuance  of  the  resolution  of  the 
Federal  Convention."  A  struggle  immediately  arose  as  to 
the  place  where  the  new  government  should  bo  established. 
Most  of  the  members  from  New  England  and  the  Middle 
States  wished  either  that  the  seat  of  the  government  should 
continue  at  New  York  or  be  removed  to  Philadelphia ;  the 
Southern  members  desired  a  situation  nearer  the  geographical 
centre  of  the  Union.  These  conflicting  opinions  were  at 
length  reconciled,  by  the  adoption,  oil  the  18th  of  September, 
1788,  of  a  resolution  which  provided  that,  in  order  to  carry 
the  new  Constitution  into  operation,  Presidential  electors 
should  be  appointed  in  the  several  States  on  the  first  Wed 
nesday  of  January,  1789  ;  that  the  said  electors  should  meet 
in  their  several  States  and  vote  for  President  and  vice-Presi- 
dent  on  the  first  Wednesday  of  February  ;  "  and  that  the  first 
Wednesday  in  March  next "  (the  fourth  of  March,  1789,)  be 
the  time,  and  the  present  seat  of  Congress  (New  York)  the 
place,  for  commencing  proceedings  under  the  said  Consti 
tution." 

As  originally  framed,  the  Constitution  provided  that  two 
persons  should  be  voted  for  by  the  Electors  as  President  and 
v ice-President ;  the  candidate  having  the  highest  number  of 
votes  to  bo  President,  and,  in  case  of  equality,  the  House  of 
Representatives,  voting  by  States,  and  each  State  giving  one 
vote,  was  to  decide. — The  whole  number  of  electoral  votes  for 


128  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

President  and  vice-President,  cast  on  the  first  Wednesday  of 
February,  was  sixty  nine.  They  were  given  unanimously  for 
Washington,  who  was  predestined  in  the  public  mind  for  the 
office  of  President.  A  much  smaller  number  of  votes  was 
given  for  Mr.  John  Adams,  who,  however,  united  a  large  plu 
rality  over  any  other  person,  as  a  candidate  for  the  second 
office.  The  State  of  New  York  took  no  part  in  the  first 
Presidential  election  !  She  is  now  much  more  attentive  to 
her  political  duties. 

At  length  the  fourth  of  March,  1789, — the  appointed  day, 
which  was  to  give  an  organized  Constitutional  existence  to  a 
new  Confederate  Republic,  about  to  enter  on  an  equal  footing 
into  the  family  of  nations, — arrived ;  but  on  that  day  there 
assembled  at  the  seat  of  the  new  government  at  New  York; 
of  the  Senate,  only  the  two  Senators  from  New  Hampshire, 
Connecticut,  and  Pennsylvania,  and  one  each  from  Massachu 
setts  and  Georgia.  These  eight  punctual  men  met  and  ad 
journed  from  day  to  day  for  a  week,  without  any  addition  to 
their  number.  On  the  llth  of  March  they  "agreed  that  a 
circular  should  be  written  to  the  absent  members  requesting 
their  immediate  attendance."  Another  week  passed  with  the 
same  result,  and  on  the  18th  of  March  it  was  again  agreed 
that  "  another  circular  should  be  written  to  eight  of  the 
nearest  absent  members,  particularly  desiring  their  attend 
ance,  in  order  to  form  a  quorum."  On  the  19th  of  March 
a  Senator  from  New  Jersey  dropped  in;  on  the  21st  a  Sena, 
tor  from  Delaware  made  his  appearance,  and  then  for  another 
mortal  week  no  increase  of  the  number  of  Senators  in  attend 
ance  took  place.  The  other  Senator  from  New  Jersey  came 
in  on  the  28th.  No  one  else  came  till  the  6th  of  April, 
when  "  Richard  Henry  Lee  of  Virginia  appearing,  took  his 
seat,  and  formed  a  quorum  of  the  whole  Senators  of  the 
United  States,"  viz. :  twelve  in  number,  the  States  which  had 
as  yet  ratified  the  Constitution  being  but  eleven.  Such  was 


THE  MOUNT  YEKNON  PAPERS.  129 

the  tardy  organization  of  the  Senate,  which  at  first  sat  with 
closed  doors,  as  well  for  legislative  as  executive  business. 

Of  the  Representatives,  of  whom  the  whole  number  from 
the  eleven  ratifying  States  was  but  fifty-nine,  thirteen  only 
assembled  at  New  York  on  the  4th  of  March,  viz.  :  four  from 
Massachusetts,  three  from  Connecticut,  four  from  Pennsyl 
vania,  one  from  Virginia,  and  one  from  South  Carolina.  On 
the  following  day  one  more  arrived  from  New  Hampshire, 
one  from  Massachusetts,  two  from  Connecticut,  and  one  from 
Pennsylvania.  No  one  else  came  in  till  the  14th  of  March, 
the  house  adjourning  from  day  to  day  for  want  of  a  quorum. 
On  that  day  JAMES  MADISON,  JNR.  and  two  other  members 
from  Virginia  came  in,  but  there  was  still  no  quorum.  On 
the  17th  and  18th  of  March  two  more  members  from  Vir 
ginia  appeared,  and  no  further  arrivals  took  place  till  the  23d. 
On  that  day  two  members  came  in  from  New  Jersey,  and  on 
the  25th  another  from  Virginia.  No  additional  members 
arrived  till  the  30th  of  March,  when  another  member  from 
Maryland  and  Virginia  appeared.  On  the  first  of  April,  an 
other  member  each  from  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania  came 
in,  and  a  quorm  was  formed.  It  was  five  days  more  before  a 
quorum  of  the  Senate  was  present,  and  the  first  Congress  of 
the  United  States  was  organized.  On  the  21st  of  April,  the 
Vice-President,  John  Adams,  appeared,  and  took  his  seat  as 
President  of  the  Senate.  In  his  address  on  taking  the  Chair, 
he  paid  an  emphatic  and  eloquent  tribute  to  the  newly-elected 
Chief  Magistrate. 

Expectation  now  dwelt  on  the  arrival  of  Washington. 
He  received  the  official  notice  of  his  election  on  the  14th  of 
April,  at  Mount  Vernon,  and  immediately  started  for  the  seat 
of  Government.  Attended  from  city  to  city  by  the  joyous 
and  grateful  salutations  of  the  people,  he  reached  New  York 
on  the  23d  of  April.  The  necessary  arrangements  for  his  in 
auguration  occupied  a  week,  and,  at  length,  on  the  30th  of 
April,  in  the  gallery  in  front  of  the  Federal  Hall,  just  erected 


130  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

in  Wall  street,  in  the  presence  of  the  newly-organized  Con 
gress,  of  the  municipal  authorities  of  New  York,  and  her 
sympathizing  population,  he  took  the  oath  to  "  preserve, 
protect,  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States." 
The  oath  was  administered  by  Chancellor  Livingston ;  the 
Secretary  of  the  Senate  began  to  raise  the  Bible  to  the  Presi 
dent's  lips,  but  he  bowed  his  head  and  kissed  the  sacred 
volume.  At  the  close  of  the  solemn  ceremony  Chancellor 
Livingston  proclaimed  "  Long  live  George  Washington,  Pres. 
ident  of  the  United  States  !  "  He  was  then  fifty-seven  years, 
two  months,  and  six  days  old,  and  he  lived  ten  years,  seven 
months,  and  fourteen  days,  from  the  time  of  his  inauguration. 
Before  the  arrival  of  the  President,  a  Committee  had  been 
appointed  by  the  Senate  to  consider  "  what  style  or  title  it 
will  be  proper  to  annex  to  the  offices  of  the  President  and 
Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  if  any  others  than  those 
given  in  the  Constitution."  This  Committee  consisted  of  Mr. 
Richard  Henry  Lee  of  Virginia,  Mr.  Izard  of  South  Carolina, 
and  Mr.  Dalton  of  Massachusetts,  and  they  reported  in  favor 
of  addressing  the  Chief  Magistrate  as  "  His  Highness  the 
President  of  the  United  States  of  America,  and  Protector  of 
their  Liberties."  The  Senate  was  inclined  to  favor  that  style 
of  address,  which  was,  no  doubt,  suggested  by  the  title  adopt 
ed  by  the  Protector  Cromwell,  and  that  of  the  States  General 
of  Holland,  who,  as  was  remarked  by  Mr.  Madison,  assumed 
the  style  of  "  their  High  Mightinesses."  The  House  of  Rep 
resentatives  deemed  it  expedient  not  to  bestow  any  title  on 
the  President  and  Vice-President,  and  in  the  answers  of  the 
two  houses  to  the  President's  inaugural  speech,  he  was,  with 
out  any  titular  addition,  addressed  as  "  President  of  the 
United  States.'"  The  Senate  persevered  for  a  few  days  in 
the  attempt  to  establish  a  title  by  legislation  ;  the  house  con- 
-  tinned  to  dissent ;  a  committee  of  conference  Avas  appointed 
who  could  agree  on  no  report ;  and  the  Senate,  "  desirous  of 
preserving  harmony  with  the  House  of  Representatives," 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNX)N  PAPEKS.  131 

postponed  the  report  of  their  Committee,  and  resolved  that 
the  present  address  be  "To  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  without  the  addition  of  title." 

Notwithstanding  this  wise  decision  of  the  two  houses  of 
Congress,  grandiloquent  titles  were  occasionally  bestowed  on 
the  President  in  the  newspapers  and  other  publications  of  the 
day.  During  his  tour  in  1789,  he  was  sometimes  spoken  of 
as  his  "  Highness,  the  President."  This  is  the  case  in  the  ac 
count  of  his  reception  at  Worcester  ;  and  the  following  amus 
ing  anecdote  is  found  in  the  "  Massachusetts  Spy  "  of  12th  of 
November.  It  appears  from  Washington's  Diary,  under 
date  of  6th  of  November,  that  "  the  house  in  Uxbridge  had  a 
good  appearance,  (for  a  tavern,)  but  the  owner  of  it  being 
from  home,  and  his  wife  sick,  we  could  not  gain  admittance, 
which  was  the  reason  of  my  coming  on  to  Taft's."  The  anec 
dote  is  as  follows  : — 

"  The  following  is  handed  us  for  fact,  and  is  one  of  the  many  in 
stances,  which  show  that  it  is  necessary  the  President  of  the  United 
States  should  have  some  title,  or  address  at  least,  to  distinguish  him 
from  other  great  personages,  who  may  have  occasion  to  travel  either 
in  their  own  or  other  States. — Towards  the  close  of  one  day  last  week,  a 
messenger  was  sent  forward  to  inform  the  keeper  of  the  Inn  where  his 
Highness  intended  to  lodge  that  night,  that  "  the  President  was  near  by, 
and  wished  to  be  accommodated  with  lodging,  and  a  little  necessary 
refreshment,"  &c.  The  innkeeper  was  absent ;  the  landlady,  supposing 
the  messenger  meant,  by  "  the  President,"  the  President  of  Rhode  Isl 
and  College,  for  it  was  in  the  neighborhood  of  that  State,  and  that  of 
course  he  had  his  lady  with  him,  and  being  herself  unwell,  she  told  the 
messenger  she  could  not  entertain  "the  President" — and  that  he  must  go 
on  to  the  next  tavern — in  consequence  of  which  the  messenger,  although 
it  was  late,  had  to  send  word  back  to  his  Highness  that  he  had  proceed 
ed  on  to  the  next  inn,  to  provide  that  entertainment  which  he  could  not 
get  at  the  first.  The  landlady  soon  after  found  out  her  mistake,  and 
most  piteously  lamented  that  she  could  not  have  known  that  it  was  the 
illustrious  Washington,  who  intended  honoring  her  house. — '  Bless  me? 
exclaimed  she,  '  the  sight  of  him  would  have  cured  me  of  my  illness,  and 
the  best  in  my  house  and  in  town  would  have  been  at  his  service.''  This  inn 
was  in  the  middle  of  the  town,  and  when  the  inhabitants  who  lived  in 


132  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

the  neighborhood,  heard  of  the  affair,  they  could  not  refrain  expressing 
the  greatest  mortification  at  the  unlucky  adventure,  which  deprived  ma 
ny  of  them  of  the  opportunity  of  seeing  HIM  whom  they  would  have 
delighted  to  honor." 

But  to  return  to  our  narrative. 

Thus  quietly,  and,  if  I  may  use  the  expression,  uncon 
sciously  to  itself,  the  government  of  the  United  States  began 
its  constitutional  existence,  seventy  years  ago  this  day  in  the 
city  of  New  York.  If  we  are  inclined  to  wonder  at  the  indif 
ference  with  which,  not  merely  the  public  at  large,  but  saga 
cious  politicians  and  partiotic  statesmen,  looked  on,  while  the 
infant  Republic  struggled  into  being,  we  must  bear  in  mind 
the  lassitude  produced  by  six  years  of  weary  expectation. 
Who  could  give  assurance  that  the  acts  of  the  new  govern 
ment  would  command  a  greater  measure  of  respect  than  the 
Recommendations  of  the  late  Congress  ?  that  the  new  piece 
of  parchment  would  be  more  potent  than  the  old  ? 

There  is  one  point  of  view,  in  which  we  must  deem  it  for 
tunate  that  the  new  government  came  over  the  land  and  the 
people,  as  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  "  cometh,  not  with  obser 
vation."  In  no  other  way  could  it  probably  have  come  at  all. 
There  is  no  other  instance  in  the  history  of  the  world  of  a 
political  change, — proved  on  trial  to  be  of  the  utmost  impor 
tance, — which  has  been  made  at  the  time  without  bloodshed. 
No  more  important  revolution  than  that  which  substituted 
the  present  Constitution  for  the  old  Confederation  ever  took 
place,  in  ancient  or  modern  times.  A  change  of  government 
as  radical  as  those  which  have  caused  the  direst  and  the  dead 
liest  conflicts  between  the  different  orders  of  the  State,  the 
existing  and  the  substituted  powers,  in  Greece  and  in  Rome ; 
mediaeval  Italy  ;  in  England  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century  ;  and  in  France  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth,  was 
made  on  this  day,  in  this  city,  seventy  years  ago,  nearly 
unperceived,  and  still  more,  nearly  disregarded  by  an  often 
disappointed  and  languid  people.  New  York  would  not  even 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  133 

take  a  part  in  the  organization  of  the  new  government,  though 
established  in  her  own  metropolis.  It  was  an  experiment, 
and  the  people  were  tired  of  experiments.  It  promised  little 
to  gratify  ambition,  and  its  promises  carried  little  hope  of  ful 
filment,  It  offered  nothing  to  feed  the  appetite  for  gold  ; 
unable  to  jray  its  debts,  it  was  too  poor  to  think  of  bribes. 
The  vast  extent  of  the  Union  compared  with  its  scanty  popu 
lation, — the  wide  spaces  which  separated  its  great  political 
centres, — the  tardiness  of  communication  between  its  remote 
districts, — the  comparative  feebleness  of  the  press, — the  pov 
erty  of  the  country,  whose  resources  were  nowhere  developed, 
— the  want  of  armies,  navies,  and  public  works,  and  the  fru 
gality  of  all  the  public  establishments,  were  circumstances 
which  favored  a  pacific  revolution.  It  was  not  only  experi- 
mentum,  but  experimentwn  (comparatively  speaking)  in  cor- 
pore  vili, — an  experiment  on  a  cheap  substance ;  it  was  well  if 
it  succeeded,  and  no  great  matter  if  it  failed.  There  were  the 
State  governments  to  fall  back  upon,  and  many  good  patriots 
were  opposed  to  any  encroachment  on  their  equal  sovereignty. 

To  bring  about  a  change  in  the  organic  law,  at  the  present 
day,  as  radical  as  that  which  was  effected  by  the  new  Consti 
tution,  would  be  simply  impossible.  The  magnitude  of  the 
existing  interests  is  too  great ;  the  strength  of  the  powers  in 
possession  too  vast ;  and  the  spirit  of  contending  opinions  and 
ambitions  too  resolute,  to  admit  of  any  great  peaceable  rev 
olution.  As  it  is  only  in  a  reduced  state  of  the  natural  body, 
caused  by  regimen  or  disease,  that  certain  heroic  operations 
in  surgery  can  be  ventured  on,  so  it  is  only  in  a  body  politic, 
exhausted  like  that  of  the  United  States  from  1783  to  1789, 
that  a  radical  change  of  organization  could  be  made  without 
a  convulsion. 

But  let  us  not  ascribe  too  much  to  circumstances,  and  too 
little  to  the  pure  and  disinterested  patriotism  of  the  great 
and  good  men  of  the  constitutional  period.  It  is  painful  to 
reflect,  that,  in  the  great  system  of  compensation  which  reg- 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

ulates  the  fortunes  of  governments  as  well  as  those  of  in 
dividuals,  the  days  of  palmy  prosperity  are  not  those  most 
favorable  to  the  display  of  public  virtue  or  the  influence  of 
wise  and  good  men.  In  hard,  doubtful,  unprosperous,  and 
dangerous  times,  the  disinterested  and  patriotic  find  their  way, 
by  a  species  of  public  instinct,  unopposed,  joyfully  welcomed, 
to  the  control  of  affairs.  The  sufferings  of  the  revolutionary 
war  and  the  discouragements  of  the  succeeding  period  had 
thrown  what  government  there  was, — and  there  was  scarce 
any  thing  that  deserved  the  name, — into  the  hands  of  unam 
bitious  men,  who  served  the  country  from  a  sense  of  duty. 
The  Presidency  of  the  United  States  under  the  new  govern 
ment,  that  prize  in  pursuit  of  which  the  best  interests  of  the 
country  are  daily  jeoparded,  while  all  its  political  energies  are 
driven  into  the  channels  of  party,  with  an  expansive  force 
which  seems  perpetually  to  threaten  an  explosion, — that  daz 
zling  prize  was,  in  the  year  1788  and  from  the  moment  the 
Constitution  was  promulgated,  spontaneously  allotted,  in  the 
public  mind,  to  an  Individual,  who  not  only  did  not  covet  or 
seek  it,  but  who  recoiled  from  it,  with  unaffected  reluctance  to 
submit  to  its  burden*  and  cares, — and  who  could  only  be  in 
duced,  by  the  UTQP^C  and  concurring  importunities  of  all  in 
whom  he  con£de4,  to  accept  a  unanimous  election.  Who  can 
doubt  that  if,  instead  of  such  a  state  of  things  in  1788,  half 
a  dozen  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  country  and  their  friends,  in 
and  out  of  Congress,  had  exerted  all  their  influence  over  or 
ganized  parties,  and  called  into  action  all  the  resources  of  po 
litical  agitation,  in  different  parts  of  the  Union,  in  order  to 
connect  the  question  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  with 
their  own  aspirations,  the  new  government  would  have  failed 
of  adoption  1  It  deserves  the  thoughtful  consideration  of  all 
good  citizens,  whether  a  state  of  things  which  would  assured 
ly  have  prevented  the  Constitution  from  coming  into  exist 
ence,  will  not,  if  persevered  in,  and  that  with  ever-increasing 
intensity,  prove  fatal  to  its  duration,  in  its  original  integrity. 


NUMBEK  FIFTEEN. 

ABBOTSFORD  YISITED   AND  REVISITED. 

PART     II. 

The  family  of  Sir  Walter  Scott  in  1918— His  mode  of  life  and  study— Playful  names 
given  his  daughters — A  visitor  recognized  by  the  print  of  his  horse's  shoe  before 
he  was  seen — Gratitude  more  affecting  than  ingratitude — German  studies — Jesting 
anecdotes  at  table— A  walk  of  a  mile  on  your  own  land— Natural  features  of  Ab- 
botsford — Departure — Personal  appearance  of  Sir  Walter— Conversation — Opinions 
as  to  the  authorship  of  the  Waverley  novels — Pecuniary  embarrassments — Sad 
changes  in  the  family— Visit  to  Abbotsford  in  1844— Border  Scenery— Otterburn, 
Jedborough— Eemains  of  Dryburgh  Abbey— Tomb  of  Sir  Walter  Scott— Melrose 
Abbey— Changes  at  Abbotsford— The  Poems  and  Novels  of  Sir  "Walter  Scott. 

THE  family  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  at  the  time  of  my  visit 
to  Abbotsford  in  1818,  consisted  of  himself  and  Mrs.  Scott, 
and  his  four  children, — all  he  ever  had, — Sophia,  Walter, 
Anne,  and  Charles  ;  Sophia  the  oldest,  at  this  time,  not  being 
quite  nineteen  years  of  age.  Walter  entered  the  army,  after 
wards  married,  but  died  childless.  Charles,  as  was  mentioned 
in  the  former  paper,  attached  himself  to  the  diplomatic  career, 
and  died  young  and  unmarried  ;  as  did  also  Anne  the  young 
est  daughter,  who  at  the  time  of  my  visit  was  in  her  fifteenth 
year.  Sophia,  as  is  well  known,  married  Mr.  Lockhart,  who 
was  introduced  into  the  family  in  the  summer  of  1818.  Their 
only  child,  a  young  lady  of  the  most  engaging  appearance  and 
estimable  character,  wras  just  entering  society  at  the  period 
of  my  second  residence  in  England, — the  image  of  the  lovely 
maiden  whom  I  had  known  at  Edinburgh  and  Abbotsford,  the 


136  THE  MOUNT  VEEN  OX  PAPERS. 

pride  and  charm  of  her  father's  house.  Walter,  at  the  time 
of  my  visit  to  Abbotsford,  was  in  the  Highlands,  for  the 
opening  of  the  moors. 

Mr.  Lockhart's  life  of  Scott  discloses  the  pleasing  manner 
in  which  he  lived  with  his  family.  Notwithstanding  his  Her 
culean  literary  labors,  with  the  addition  of  his  official  duties, 
(which  while  he  united  the  offices  of  clerk  of  the  Court  of 
Sessions  and  Sheriff  of  Selkirkshire,  necessarily  occupied 
much  of  his  time,)  he  never  seemed,  as  I  was  told  in  the  fami 
ly,  to  be  in  want  of  leisure  for  the  engagements  and  amusements 
of  the  social  circle.  Certainly,  while  I  was  at  Abbotsford,  he 
seemed  entirely  master  of  his  time  ;  and  Sophia  told  me  that 
what  I  saw  of  him  was  a  fair  specimen  of  his  country  life.  He 
no  doubt  worked  harder  in  the  winter,  when  less  exposed  to 
interruption  by  visitors ;  and  he  habitually  employed  the 
early  hours  of  the  morning  at  his  desk.  We  learn  from  Mr. 
Lockhart's  Biography,  the  prodigious  facility  and  courage 
with  which  he  composed  his  novels,  well  knowing,  as  he  did, 
that  he  was  writing  them  for  the  whole  civilized  world.  It 
was  not  an  uncommon  thing  with  him,  as  he  tells  us  himself, 
to  write  a  chapter  in  the  evening  on  a  tour,  and  despatch  it 
unread  by  mail,  in  the  morning,  to  his  publishers. 

He  lived  in  the  most  delightful  confidence  and  familiarity 
with  his  children.  They  were,  each  according  to  age  and  sex, 
his  companions  and  playmates.  Sophia  was  the  first  person 
whom  he  admitted  to  his  confidence,  in  reference  to  the  author 
ship  of  the  Waverley  novels,  except  those  who  aided  him  in 
transcribing  them  for  the  press.  This,  however,  he  had  not 
done  at  the  time  of  my  visit.  He  was  accustomed  playfully 
to  call  his  oldest  daughter  "  Miss  Feuclothes,"  from  her  habit, 
when  some  little  article  of  dress  was  wanted  in  a  hurry,  of 
borrowing  from  the  wardrobe  of  her  sister  or  mother,  feu 
being  a  Scottish  legal  term  for  a  rent  tenure,  in  distinction 
from  ownership.  Anne  was  fonder  of  gay  dress,  and  would 
sometimes  return  from  her  rambles  in  the  fields,  with  her 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPEES.  137 

garments  torn  by  jumping  over  the  hedges.  This  gained  her 
the  title  of  "  Lady  Bonnierag." 

On  one  of  our  walks  in  the  fields,  we  noticed  the  print  of  a 
horse's  hoof  in  the  beaten  path.  Sir  Walter  told  me  that  on 
one  occasion,  in  walking,  I  think  he  said,  with  Mr.  Southey, 
over  the  same  path,  having  seen  a  similar  print,  he  told  Mr. 
Southey — (if  he  was  the  person) — that  when  they  got  back 
to  the  house,  they  should  find  a  certain  individual  whom  he 
named.  Mr.  Southey  asked  "  if  he  was  expected  1 "  "  No." 
"  Have  you  any  business  with  him  which  might  require  him 
to  come  and  see  you  ? "  "  No."  "  Have  you  had  a  second  sight 
of  him  1 "  "  Neither  of  these,  and  yet  we  shall  find  him ; "  and 
so  the  event  proved,  on  their  return  home.  After  amusing 
himself  with  his  guest's  wonder,  how  Sir  Walter,  under  these 
circumstances,  at  such  a  distance  from  his  house,  which  was 
entirely  out  of  sight,  could  know  who  had  come  there,  the 
mystery  was  cleared  up.  Sir  Walter  was  acquainted  with 
the  size  and  shape  of  the  hoof  of  his  visitor's  horse.  It  made 
a  print  different  from  that  made  by  any  other  horse  in  the 
neighborhood. 

Some  poor  person,  as  we  passed  along,  expressed  himself 
in  terms  of  warm  gratitude  to  Sir  Walter,  for  his  kind  inqui 
ries  after  a  member  of  his  family  who  was  ill.  When  we  had 
passed  on,  I  made  some  remark  on  the  strong  and  apparently 
sincere  language  of  gratitude,  wrhich  fell  from  the  poor  man, 
prompted  as  I  supposed  by  some  former  and  more  important 
acts  of  kindness  on  his  part.  Without  particularly  replying  to 
that  suggestion,  he  said,  "  for  my  part,  I  am  more  touched  with 
the  gratitude  than  the  ingratitude  of  the  dependent  poor. 
We  occasionally  hear  complaints  how  thankless  men  are  for 
favors  bestowed  upon  them ;  but  when  I  consider  that  we  are 
all  of  the  same  flesh  and  blood,  it  grieves  me  more  to  see 
slight  acts  of  kindness  acknowledged  with  such  humility  and 
deep  sense  of  obligation." 

Being  fresh  from  a  long  residence  in  Germany,  I  had  much 


138  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEES. 

conversation  with  Sir  Walter  about  the  language  and  literature 
of  that  country,  and  the  men  of  eminence  whom  I  had  seen 
there  ;  especially  Goethe.  I  inferred  from  the  general  charac 
ter  of  his  remarks,  that  he  had  not,  of  late  years,  pursued  his 
German  studies  with  as  much  diligence  as  in  early  life, 
though  he  had  never  wholly  neglected  them.  lie  mentioned 
the  circumstances  of  his  translation  of  Burger's  Lenore,  very 
much  as  they  are  given  in  Lockhart's  life. 

Nothing  was  too  playful  for  him  at  table.  He  related 
with  great  glee  an  anecdote  of  a  lady  in  Edinburgh,  who  had 
a  house  servant  from  the  highlands,  altogether  ignorant  of  the 
little  refinements  of  civilized  life,  and  not  entirely  master  of 
the  English  language.  A  visitor  was  staying  at  the  house. 
At  the  dinner  hour  the  servant  was  sent  up  to  call  the  gentle 
man,  and  found  him  brushing  his  teeth,  a  process  of  the  nature 
and  objects  of  which  the  Gael  had  no  knowledge,  and  of  which 
he  could  only  form  a  conception  from  what  he  witnessed. 
He  accordingly  returned  to  the  dining-room  and  reported  that 
"  the  gentleman  wrould  immediately  come  to  dinner ; — she 
was  sharpening  her  teeth." 

Another  of  his  jesting  anecdotes  at  table  was  of  a  gentle 
man,  who  had  been  passing  some  time  with  friends  at  a 
country  house.  At  length  the  time  for  departure  arrived,  and 
Andrew,  his  travelling  servant,  was  directed  to  pack  up  the 
portmanteaus.  At  the  last  moment,  Andrew  was  asked  by 
his  master,  whether  "  he  was  sure  that  he  had  put  up  all  their 
things."  The  answer,  brought  out  by  Sir  Walter  with  a  mis 
chievous  twinkle  of  the  eye,  at  the  emphasized  word,  was 
"  At  least,  your  Honor." 

As  we  were  walking  toward  Mclrose,  and  talking  on  the 
subject  of  exercise,  as  necessary  to  health,  he  said  "  he  thought 
a  walk  of  a  mile  before  breakfast,  and  if  possible  on  one's 
own  land,  wras  highly  conducive  to  health."  Such  a  walk  he 
was  even  at  that  time  fully  able  to  take.  His  property,  I 
think  I  understood,  amounted  then  to  twelve  hundred  acres  in 


THE  MOUNT  VEBNON  PAPERS.  loV 

rather  a  narrow  strip  on  the  Tweed.  It  was,  I  believe,  consid 
erably  increased  by  additional  purchases.  In  its  natural  feat 
ures,  when  Sir  Walter  first  became  possessed  of  it,  there  was 
not  much  that  was  attractive,  except  the  river.  It  was  nearly 
if  not  entirely  destitute  of  trees,  and  the  space  between  the 
road  and  the  Tweed  was  rather  too  narrow  and  the  bank  too 
steep,  either  for  entire  convenience  or  beauty.  The  house 
was  very  near  the  road,  and  wanted  that  seclusion  which 
forms  so  much  of  the  charm  of  rural  life.  As  far  as  I  could 
judge  from  the  appearance  of  Ashestiel,  where  Sir  Walter 
lived  before  removing  to  Abbotsford,  the  former  had  the  ad 
vantage  in  natural  beauty.  Abbotsford  was,  however,  greatly 
improved  by  Sir  Walter's  plantations,  and  the  historical  and 
traditionary  interest  of  the  spot  was  to  him  irresistible. 

But  all  things  on  earth  must  have  an  end ;  and  those  which 
are  most  agreeable  seem  to  come  to  their  end  the  soonest. 
The  hours  of  my  last  day  at  Abbotsford  passed  but  too  rapid 
ly,  and  I  took  my  leave  of  the  family  late  in  the  afternoon, 
with  a  presentiment,  too  fully  verified,  that  I  should  never  see 
them  more.  I  rode  one  of  Sir  Walter's  ponies  to  Selkirk, 
where  I  had  left  my  baggage  in  the  morning,  and  there  took  the 
mail  coach  to  London. 

Sir  Walter  Scott  was  at  this  time  forty-seven  years  of  age. 
He  looked  older,  for  his  hair,  though  not  thin,  was  gray  ap 
proaching  to  white.  He  was  tall,  full  six  feet  in  height,  I 
think  rather  more.  He  was  not  very  stout  for  a  person  of 
his  stature,  though  the  framework  was  that  of  a  large,  fully- 
developed  man.  There  was  a  certain  air  of  heaviness  in 
the  brow,  which  in  moments  of  entire  mental  quiescence 
seemed  hardly  in  character  for  one  of  the  most  brilliant  gen 
iuses,  learned  antiquaries,  and  genial  temperaments  of  the 
age.  This  expression,  however,  was  wholly  superficial  and 
transient.  It  was  a  drop-curtain  between  the  scenes.  The 
moment  the  action  of  the  mind  commenced,  either  in  conver 
sation — whether  charming  the  circle  with  the  outpourings  of 


140  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

his  own  exhaustless  memory  or  gorgeous  fancy,  or  listening 
to  others,  which  he  did  with  a  courtesy  and  earnestness  that 
marked  a  mind  ever  on  the  watch  for  some  accession  of  ideas, 
or  in  reading  a  favorite  author  to  a  sympathizing  audience — 
the  veil  was  lifted,  the  expression  of  heaviness  vanished,  and 
energetic  thought  rayed  out  from  every  feature.  His  frame 
\vas  cast  by  nature  in  an  athletic  mould ;  but  in  consequence 
of  early  disease  the  right  leg  was  a  little  shorter  than  the  left. 
It  served  him,  however,  with  the  aid  of  a  cane  to  walk  upon, 
and  he  could  hardly  be  said  to  limp. 

Though  a  Scotsman  born  and  bred,  to  say  that  the  author 
of  the  "  Lady  of  the  Lake"  and  "  Ivanhoe"  was  a  perfect 
master  of  the  English  language,  in  its  utmost  refinement  and 
delicacy,  would  be  a  work  of  ridiculous  supererogation.  But 
for  conversation,  like  many,  perhaps  most,  of  his  countrymen, 
he  had  two  dialects.  In  his  family,  and  still  more  with  those 
in  a  subordinate  station,  and  persons  at  work  about  the  house 
and  the  grounds,  he  spoke  with  a  Scottish  accent,  and  made 
use  of  words  peculiar  to  the  lowland  Scottish  dialect.  In 
general  conversation,  these  characteristics  were  scarcely  per 
ceptible.  One  Scottish  word,  however,  he  frequently  used,  in 
all  the  varieties  of  company  in  which  I  saw  him,  either  at  Edin 
burgh  or  in  the  country ;  namely,  "  I  mind"  for  "  I  remember." 

In  1818,  the  secret  of  the  authorship  of  the  novels,  if 
secret  it  could  be  called,  had  not  been  disclosed.  Most  per 
sons  believed  him  to  be  the  author  ;  I  had  never  doubted  it, 
from  the  appearance  of  the  Antiquary.  Some  persons,  how 
ever,  doubted  it ;  some  ascribed  them,  on  the  most  shadowy 
of  foundations,  to  a  brother  of  Sir  Walter,  Mr.  Thomas  Scott, 
a  paymaster  in  the  British  army,  stationed  in  Quebec ;  and 
others  spoke  of  a  certain  mythical  Dr.  Greenfield,  if  I  recol 
lect  the  name, — whose  pretensions  to  the  authorship  of  these 
magnificent  productions  were  maintained  in  some  of  the  third 
rate  literary  journals  of  the  day.  The  late  Mr.  Randolph,  of 
Virginia,  though  a  critical  English  scholar,  was,  at  one  time, 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS. 

inclined  to  adopt  this  wild  notion.  Long  before  the  secret 
was  formally  disclosed,  few  persons  of  discernment  or  taste, 
in  England  or  America,  entertained  a  doubt  on  the  subject. 

With  the  announcement  of  the  secret,  and  I  believe  some 
time  before,  commenced  the  pecuniary  embarrassments  of  Sir 
Walter,  and  the  convulsive  struggles  to  emerge  from  them, 
which  embittered  the  last  years  of  this  noble  life,  and  finally 
brought  down  his  gray  hairs  in  sorrow  to  a  premature  grave. 
The  life  of  Napoleon — a  work  to  make  the  reputation  of  an 
ordinary  pen — was  the  first  symptom  of  the  stern  necessity 
of  writing  for  money.  There  is  no  period  of  his  life  at  which 
he  inspires  a  more  affectionate,  a  more  reverent  interest,  than 
during  the  last  sad  laborious  years,  when  he  wrote  under  the 
incubus  of  pecuniary  distress.  It  is  an  interest  that  quenches 
criticism,  and  extinguishes  pity  and  sorrow,  in  admiration 
and  gratitude. 

Such  as  I  have  described  them  were  Sir  Walter  Scott  and 
his  family  in  1818.  At  the  time  of  my  second  residence  in 
England,  (1841-'45,)  parents  and  children, — the  light  of  the 
age,  the  joy  and  beauty  of  the  domestic  circle, — all  had  passed 
away.  Sophia  alone  survived  in  her  child,  the  only  grand 
child  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  then  just  entering  upon  society, 
which  she  was  destined  to  adorn  but  for  a  brief  season.  Un 
usually  shrinking  and  timid  for  a  well-bred  English  maiden, 
she  was  an  object  of  peculiar  interest  with  all  who  knew  her, 
as  the  sole  descendant  and  representative  of  Sir  Walter  Scott. 

Toward  the  close  of  August,  1844,  I  took  advantage  of 
the  general  pause  in  political  and  social  life,  which  takes  place 
in  London  at  that  season,  to  make  a  short  tour  to  the  North. 
Leaving  New-Castle  on  the  morning  of  the  29th  of  August, 
we  soon  entered  the  region  of  the  moors  ;  a  high,  undulating 
country,  destitute  of  trees,  but  covered  with  bracken  and 
heather  still  in  bloom,  and  tinting  the  sloping  surfaces,  under 
a  favorable  light,  with  that  exquisite  purple,  which  almost 
makes  up  for  the  want  of  woodlands  in  a  Scottish  landscape. 


14:2  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

About  Otterlmrn,  which  tells  you  in  its  name  that  you  have 
"entered  the  jurisdiction  of  Scott's  muse,  plantations  and  farms 
begin.  We  passed  through  Jedborough  in  the  afternoon. 
On  the  left,  as  you  enter  the  town,  are  the  ruins  of  the  Ab 
bey,  in  the  aisle  of  which  Thomson  went  to  school.  Passing 
Ancrum  moor,  a  bridge  crosses  the  Teviot,  where  "  English 
blood  swelled  Ancrum  ford."  The  remains  of  Dryburgh 
Abbey  form  a  fitting  preparation  for  a  visit  to  Abbotsford. 
The  bridge  built  by  the  Earl  of  Buchan,  over  the  Tweed,  was 
carried  away  a  few  years  before,  and  we  crossed  the  river,  as 
clear  as  glass,  in  a  boat.  The  evening  was  calm,  and  the  sun 
was  just  sinking  behind  the  middle  peak  of  the  Eildon  hills, 
whose  sharp  outline  formed  an  indescribably  graceful  back 
ground.  An  air  of  desolate  seclusion  hangs  over  the  remains 
of  the  Abbey.  Of  great  beauty  in  themselves,  they  were 
sadly  disfigured  by  some  attempts  at  restoration.  Scott's 
place  of  rest  (St.  Mary's  aisle)  had  at  that  time  a  forlorn 
look.  There  was  nothing  in  the  way  of  a  monument  to  des 
ignate  or  adorn  it ;  not  even  a  slab  to  protect  it. 

We  had  fortunately  engaged  rooms  in  advance  at  the  only 
decent  inn  at  Melrose,  and  after  supping,  went  out  at  nine 
o'clock  to  see  the  Abbey.  The  moon  was  at  the  full — a  har 
vest  moon ;  it  was  impossible  to  see  the  venerable  ruins  to 
greater  advantage.  How  many  years,  what  varied  scenes 
had  filled  the  interval  since  my  former  visit !  A  venerable 
female  cicerone  performed  her  duty  with  no  little  propriety, 
reciting  the  appropriate  passages  from  "  The  Lay  of  the  Last 
Minstrel,"  with  a  good  English  cadence.  The  churchyard 
was  cold  and  damp,  and  we  soon  took  refuge  in  the  interior. 
The  broken  fragments  which  I  had  noticed  at  my  former  visit 
seemed  to  have  been  somewhat  cleared  away.  Time  had  evi 
dently  been  gently  carrying  on  the  work  begun  by  violence  in 
the  border  wars,  and  accelerated,  I  believe,  by  the  stern  icon- 
oclasm  of  the  Reformation.  The  ancient  Abbey  has,  how- 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  143 

ever,  at  some  subsequent  period,  been  partially  covered  in, 
and  used  for  Protestant  worship. 

The  next  day  we  visited  Abbotsford ;  where  changes  of 
every  kind  had  taken  place  in  twenty-six  years,  since  my 
former  visit.  The  plantations  had  been  greatly  extended  even 
during  Sir  Walter's  lifetime ;  the  hall,  the  armory,  and 
library  were  unfinished,  and  but  partly  furnished,  when  I  saw 
them  before.  But  the  saddest  change  was  the  absence  of 
those — the  venerated,  the  joyous,  the  lovely — who  filled  the 
dwelling  with  light  and  happiness.  The  desolate  apartments 
were  kept  in  perfect  order  ;  the  innumerable  objects  of  taste, 
and  of  antiquarian  and  historical  interest  contained  in  them, 
admirably  preserved  and  arranged,  but  I  could  contemplate 
them  only  with  feelings  of  overwhelming  sadness. 

The  rising  generation  of  readers  do  not  know  what  we 
enjoyed,  what  they  can  never  enjoy  with  the  zest  of  a  fresh 
appearance  and  contemporary  perusal,  in  the  poems  and 
novels  of  Sir  Walter  Scott.  The  "  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel " 
was  the  first  of  his  works  which  attracted  general  notice  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  about  the  year  1806.  It  rose  at 
once  to  an  unexampled  popularity.  It  was  probably  the  first 
English  poetry  which  was  as  extensively  read  and  relished, 
at  the  time  of  its  appearance,  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  as 
at  home.  "  Marmion  "  and  the  "  Lady  of  the  Lake  "  followed 
with  sustained,  perhaps  augmented,  reputation.  "  Rokeby  " 
and  the  "  Lord  of  the  Isles  "  with  some  abatement  of  popu 
larity, — all  within  about  six  years.  The  reader  who  takes  up 
the  series  of  Scott's  poems,  now-a-days,  and  goes  through 
them  as  one  of  the  volumes  of  the  British  classics,  can  form 
but  a  faint  conception  of  the  eagerness  with  which  they  were 
welcomed  as  they  came  successively  fresh  from  the  press. 
Overshadowed  by  the  immense  favor  with  which  Childe 
Harold  and  the  other  works  of  Byron  were  received,  Scott 
retired  almost  wholly  from  the  field  of  poetry,  and  soon  com 
menced  the  still  more  wonderfully  successful  series  of  his 


14:4  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

novels.  A  strict  incognito  was  at  first  observed,  and  a  degree 
of  mystery  was  for  several  years  kept  up ;  but  the  authorship 
of  the  novels  gradually,  and  with  many  readers  speedily, 
ceased  to  be  a  matter  of  serious  question.  There  were  many 
strong  grounds  for  ascribing  them  to  Sir  Walter, — the  choice 
of  localities  and  topics,  when  the  scene  was  laid  in  Scotland  ; 
— the  peculiar  tone  of  the  nationality  ;  many  striking  coinci 
dences  with  his  avowed  works, — and,  on  any  other  supposi 
tion,  the  strange  and  persistent  inactivity  of  his  pen,  in  the 
face  of  daily  increasing  external  evidence  of  profitable  author 
ship.  There  was  just  doubt  enough  to  add  the  element  of 
curiosity  to  the  eager  interest  with  which  each  delightful  work 
in  the  series  was  successively  received.  That  charm  is  broken, 
and  new  and  not  undeserving  favorites  in  the  department  of 
fiction  solicit  the  public  attention.  The  taste  of  the  reading 
world  is  cloyed  with  the  excess  of  this  fascinating  diet ,  and 
the  delight  with  which  a  new  "  Waverley  Novel "  \vas  wel 
comed,  is  buried  in  the  grave  of  their  illustrious  author. 


JSTUMBEE   SIXTEEN. 

THE     COURT     OF     FRANCE    IN    1818. 

Impressions  of  the  French  revolution  derived  from  Burke — Presentation  at  court  in 
France  in  1818— Court  dress  and  diplomatic  uniform— Mr.  Gallatin  and  the  ambas 
sadors'  reception — Appearance  of  Louis  XVIII. — Duchess  d'Angoulyme — Duke 
d'Angouleme — The  Count  d'Artois  afterwards  Charles  X. — The  Duke  de  Berri 
and  the  Duchess — Fortitude  of  the  Duchess  when  her  husband  was  assassinated, 
and  her  heroic  conduct  in  1832 — Concealed  at  Nantes  behind  the  back  of  a  fire 
place  for  fifteen  hours — The  King  and  Count  d'Artois  as  described  by  Burke — 
The  fortunes  of  the  Duchess  de  Berri. 

IT  was  mentioned  in  a  former  number,  that  I  arrived  in 
Europe  in  the  spring  of  1815,  just  at  the  time  of  the  escape 
of  Napoleon  from  Elba,  and  was  a  near  witness  of  the  final 
catastrophe  of  that  world-drama,  of  which  he  was  the  hero. 
Being  in  Paris  three  years  afterwards,  I  was  curious  to  ob 
serve,  a  little  more  closely  than  it  can  be  done  through  the 
columns  of  the  newspapers,  the  state  of  things  which  had 
succeeded  the  imperial  regime.  The  downfall  of  Napoleon, 
and  the  restoration  of  the  ancient  family  to  the  throne  of 
France  wore,  to  a  youthful  judgment  at  least,  the  appearance 
of  a  great  act  of  retributive  justice  in  the  government  of  the 
world.  The  opinions  of  the  French  revolution,  which  pre 
vailed  among  the  young  men  of  my  age  as  well  in  America 
as  England,  were  mainly  derived  from  the  study  of  the  writ 
ings  of  Burke.  We  transferred  to  the  entire  Revolution,  and 
to  its  effects  on  the  condition  of  France,  the  frightful  picture 
drawn  by  his  master  pen  of  the  reign  of  terror ;  and  we  ex 
pected  to  find,  at  the  Court  of  the  Restoration,  a  revival  of 
7 


146  THE  MOUNT  VEBNON  PAPERS. 

the  gorgeous  illusions  which  he  has  thrown  round  that  beau 
tiful  and  unfortunate  Queen,  whose  memory  he  has  crowned 
with  a  brighter  diadem  than  ever  sparkled  on  the  brow  of 
living  monarch.  One  glance  behind  the  scenes  was  sufficient 
to  dispel  the  error.  About  the  middle  of  March,  1818,  Mr. 
Gallatin,  at  that  time  the  Minister  of  the  United  States  at  the 
Court  of  France,  kindly  proposed  4o  present  my  travelling 
companion  (the  late  General  Lyman)  and  myself  to  the 
King  and  the  other  members  of  the  Royal  Family,  at  one  of 
the  regular  receptions  of  the  diplomatic  body.  This  ceremo 
nial  required  a  court  dress ;  and  for  this,  not  choosing  to  be 
at  the  expense  of  one  myself,  I  was  indebted  to  the  liberality 
of  several  friends,  whose  joint  contributions  furnished  a  very 
tolerable,  though  not  entirely  homogeneous,  costume  for  the 
occasion.  We  are  inclined,  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  to 
look  with  some  disdain  on  diplomatic  uniforms,  and  court 
dresses.  They  have,  at  times,  been  put  under  the  ban  of 
authority,  and  the  supposed  simplicity  of  Franklin's  dress,  as 
the  American  Minister  at  the  Court  of  Versailles,  has  been 
held  up  for  imitation.  But  though  Franklin's  dress  was 
undoubtedly  simple  in  comparison  with  the  uniforms,  which 
stood  alone  with  gold  lace,  worn  by  his  European  colleagues, 
it  was  far  enough  from  the  austere  plainness  which  is  com 
monly  thought.  It  consisted  of  purple  velvet  garments, 
white  silk  hose,  and  a  dress  sword.  Official  costumes,  like 
the  other  incidents  and  appendages  of  place,  are  often  no 
doubt  greatly  caricatured  in  Europe ;  but  uniformity  in  dress 
has  its  use  in  checking  the  absurd  extravagances  of  individual 
taste  and  want  of  taste,  nowhere  more  signally  and  ridicu 
lously  displayed  than  in  the  adornments  of  the  outer  man. 
The  uniform  of  the  American  Minister  on  this  occasion,  (as 
I  believe  on  all  occasions  and  at  all  courts,)  was  remarkable 
for  nothing  but  its  modest  simplicity ;  just  serving  the 
designed  purpose  of  avoiding  the  singularity  of  citizens'  com 
mon  clothing  when  every  one  else  is  in  official  dress. 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEES. 

At  twelve  o'clock  Mr.  Gallatin  took  us  in  his  carriage  to 
the  Tuileries,  having  three  days  before  announced  our  names 
for  presentation.  We  were  ushered  on  arriving  into  the 
Ambassadors'  hall,  where  the  representatives  of  the  various 
governments  of  Europe  wrere  assembling.  Mr.  Gallatin  was 
treated  by  them  all  in  a  manner  which  indicated  full  appreci 
ation  of  his  great  ability  and  sterling  worth.  His  mastery  of 
the  French  language,  of  course,  placed  him  on  a  footing  of 
familiarity  with  his  colleagues ;  and  his  great  sagacity  and 
experience  and  the  known  moderation  of  his  views,  gave  un 
usual  importance  and  currency  to  his  opinions  in  the  diplo 
matic  circles.  There  was  a  small  side  table  in  the  corner  of 
the  apartment,  from  which  coffee  was  served  to  those  who 
wished  it.  Shortly  after  our  arrival  we  were  introduced  to 
the  Chamberlain  in  attendance. 

A  reception  of  this  kind  was  held  by  the  King  and  the 
other  members  of  the  Royal  Family  every  other  Thursday, 
mainly  for  the  diplomatic  corps,  and  it  was  considered  a 
matter  of  course,  that  the  foreign  ministers  and  ambassadors 
should  give  their  attendance.  This  they  never  failed  to  do, 
unless  specially  prevented.  The  occasion  served  them  as  an 
agreeable  rendezvous,  at  which  they  not  only  exchanged  the 
current  news  of  their  different  countries,  but  were  able  to  give 
an  impulse  to  matters  of  business,  which  might  be  pending 
between  the  different  legations.  Of  this  there  is  always  a 
great  amount  between  the  European  Ministers, — and  com 
mercial  relations,  and  the  convenience  and  wants  of  travelling 
countrymen,  furnish  the  American  Minister  with  many  occa 
sions  to  serve  his  countrymen  with  his  colleagues.  The  half 
hour  of  attendance  in  the  hall  of  the  ambassadors  before  pro 
ceeding  to  the  throne-room  was  profitably  employed  in  this 
way.  At  length  an  usher,  with  his  rod  of  office,  announced 
that  the  King  was  ready,  and  led  the  way  to  the  presence 
chamber.  As  he  passed  the  guards  at  the  doorways  he  said, 
"  Messieurs  les  Ambassadeurs  ;  "  and,  under  his  guidance,  we 


148  THE  MOUNT  YEKNON  PAPEES. 

went  up  the  principal  staircase,  which  was  lined  with  guards, 
to  the  throne-room.  Having  entered  the  room,  the  ambas 
sadors  and  ministers  arranged  themselves  in  a  semicircle, 
according  to  seniority  in  commission,  the  ambassadors,  how 
ever,  taking  precedence  of  all  the  ministers,  and  they  of  all 
the  charges  d'affaires.  This  principle  of  arrangement  was 
established  at  the  Congress  of  Vienna,  and  put  an  end  to  those 
struggles  for  precedence,  which  form  so  prominent  a  part  of 
the  diplomatic  history  of  former  times,  and  often  led  to 
unseemly  collisions,  and  sometimes  to  bloodshed.  Behind 
each  minister  stood  those  he  was  to  present.  Mr.  Gallatin's 
place  was  about  half  way  in  the  circle. 

The  appearance  of  the  King  was  in  sad  contrast  with  what 
Burke  had  said  the  restored  King  of  France  must  be ;  an 
energetic  prince,  always  on  horseback.  Louis  the  Eighteenth, 
in  consequence  of  physical  infirmity,  could  with  difficulty  be 
placed  in  a  carriage.  He  was  rather  under  six  feet  in  height 
and  corpulent,  and  walked  with  difficulty  ;  his  round  and 
somewhat  unmeaning  face  indicating  an  amiable  disposition, 
but  no  strength  of  character.  Had  he  ascended  the  throne  in 
quiet  times,  and  in  the  natural  order  of  succession,  he  pos 
sessed  a  temper  and  character  to  insure  a  prosperous  reign. 
But  the  most  attractive  and  imposing  personal  qualities  would 
hardly  have  gained  popularity  for  a  king,  restored  at  the 
point  of  foreign  bayonets,  reeking  from  battles  fatal  to  the 
pride  and  power  of  France.  But  in  all  such  qualities  Louis 
the  Eighteenth,  broken  by  misfortune  and  disease,  was  wholly 
deficient. 

He  was  dressed  in  a  blue  coat  and  small-clothes  ;  a  white 
Marseilles  vest,  which  wrould  have  fitted  a  very  much  larger 
man,  and  stout  hussar  boots.  He  wore  the  English  order  of 
the  garter ;  and  supported  himself  with  a  cane,  being  stiff  in 
one  knee,  and  a  great  sufferer  by  gout.  He  began  with  the 
Sardinian  Ambassador,  at  the  right,  and  passed  round  the 
circle,  saying  a  few  words  to  each  of  the  ministers,  and  bow- 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS. 

ing  to  those  presented  by  him.  Having  gone  the  rounds,  he 
bowed  to  the  circle  and  retired. 

We  were  then  conducted  through  a  long  suite  of  apart 
ments  to  the  reception  room  of  the  Duchess  d'Angouleme, 
the  daughter  of  Louis  the  Sixteenth  and  Marie  Antoinette,  and 
wife  of  the  Duke  d'Angouleme,  the  king's  nephew.  In  Eng 
land  she  would  have  been  Queen  instead  of  Louis  the  Eigh 
teenth  ;  but  the  Salic  law  excluded  her  from  the  throne  of 
France.  At  this  time  she  was  forty  years  old.  Her  face 
was  neither  beautiful  nor  pleasant ;  the  lines  were  hard  ;  the 
eye  indescribably  sad  ;  the  expression  austere.  Like  several 
of  her  family,  she  was  said  to  be  very  devout.  She  entered 
France,  conducted  herself  with  heroism  beyond  the  men  of  her 
kindred,  anc^  rallied  the  friends  of  the  family,  when  the  tide 
turned  against  Napoleon.  She  had  not,  unfortunately,  any 
more  than  its  other  members,  succeeded  in  gaining  any  degree 
of  popular  favor.  I  could  not,  however,  but  look  upon  her 
with  respect.  She  had  shared  that  terrible  imprisonment  in 
the  Temple,  suffering  for  the  want  of  the  decent  comforts  of 
life,  and  had  seen  her  father  and  mother  led  out  to  the  guil 
lotine.  She  had  seen  the  poor  little  dauphin,  her  brother, 
daily  subjected  to  the  vilest  indignities,  and  most  cruel  hard 
ships  ;  and  had  lived  herself  in  hourly  expectation  of  sharing 
the  atrocious  fate  of  her  parents.  These  surely  were  titles  to 
sympathy  if  not  to  favor.  She  conversed  a  little  more  at 
length  with  the  ministers,  and  addressed  a  few  words  to  those 
introduced  by  them.  "  Are  you  an  American  ?  Arc  you 
just  arrived  in  Paris]"  were  the  questions  which  she  address 
ed  in  French  to  me.  After  having  gone  the  rounds  of  the 
circle,  she  returned  to  her  position  at  the  head  of  the  room, 
from  which  the  company  retired  backward.  Her  husband 
was  the  Duke  d'Angouleme,  the  oldest  son  of  the  Count 
d'Artois,  the  king's  brother. 

We  were  next  conducted  to  the  presence  of  the  Duke 
d'Angouleme ;  a  short  thin  man  of  extremely  ordinary  ap- 


150  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

pearance ;  dressed  in  the  uniform  of  a  colonel  of  cavalry, 
with  hussar  boots  and  spurs.  He  appeared  to  affect  a  sort  of 
military  freedom  and  pleasantry  in  his  remarks  to  the  min 
isters,  occasionally  breaking  into  something  of  a  laugh,  in 
striking  contrast  with  the  severity  that  marked  the  manners 
of  his  wife,  whom  we  had  just  quitted.  He  conversed  with 
Mr.  Gallatin,  as  the  duchess  had  also  done,  on  a  violent  gale 
which  had  lately  visited  the  northern  departments  of  France. 
His  questions  to  me  were,  "  Have  you  been  long  at  Paris  ?  " 
and  "  Are  you  attached  to  the  Legation  of  the  United 
States  ? " 

The  apartments  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess  d'Angouleme 
were  in  the  pavilion  of  Flora,  as  it  is  called,  the  wing  of  the 
palace  nearest  the  Seine.  We  were  next  conducted  across 
the  entire  extent  of  the  castle,  to  the  pavilion  of  Marsan, 
occupied  by  the  king^s  brother  the  Count  D'Artois,  after 
wards  the  successor  of  Louis  XVIII.  as  Charles  the  Tenth. 
He  was  by  far  the  best  looking  of  the  Royal  Family  ;  in 
person  slight  but  well  made ;  active  and  graceful  in  move 
ment  ;  and  (Burke's  desideratum  for  a  restored  Bourbon)  a 
good  horseman.  Aware  no  doubt  of  the  importance  of  mak 
ing  the  most  of  this  hold  upon  the  imaginations  of  the  French 
populace,  he  almost  lived  in  the  saddle.  He  would  have  been 
thought  a  man  of  fair  appearance  in  any  society  ;  though  his 
countenance  was  ordinary  and  meaningless.  He  was  said  to 
be  moderately  popular  ; — more  liberal  in  his  political  opin 
ions,  and  more  conciliatory  in  his  temper,  than  his  children. 

We  were  next  conducted  to  the  apartments  of  the  Duke 
de  Berri,  the  second  son  of  the  Count  d'Artois  ; — short  and 
stout  in  person ;  hearty  in  manner,  and  a  good  deal  better 
looking  than  his  older  brother,  the  Duke  d'Angouleme.  He 
was  the  only  one  of  the  family  who  spoke  to  me  in  English, 
which  he  did  with  ease  and  a  good  accent.  The  late  storm 
still  furnished  the  staple  of  the  conversation  ;  and  he  repeated 
the  account  which  his  father  had  given  of  a  violent  gale  at 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  151 

Versailles,  a  year  or  two  before,  which  had  blown  down  a 
part  of  the  palace.  He  was  assassinated  two  years  after 
wards,  in  the  streets  of  Paris,  at  the  door  of  the  opera-house, 
and  in  the  presence  of  his  wife,  by  a  madman  named  Louvel. 
Being  considered  as  the  hope  of  the  reigning  family,  his  death 
was  a  very  serious  blow  to  its  stability,  and  was  consequently 
ascribed  to  the  procurement  of  its  political  enemies,  but  it 
seems  to  have  been  the  work  of  a  feeble  intellect,  thrown 
from  its  balance  by  the  violence  of  party  passion. 

After  having  passed  round  the  circle,  the  Duke  de  Bern 
retired  for  a  moment,  and  re-entered  with  his  wife,  the  daugh 
ter  of  the  Prince  Eoyal  of  Naples,  and  sister  of  the  present 
king  of  that  country.  She  had  been  married  about  two 
years,  and  was  then  twenty  years  old.  She  looked  embar 
rassed  and  terrified  ;  and  rather  crept  than  walked  round  the 
circle,  not  addressing  more  than  half  the  Ministers,  nor  look 
ing  them  in  the  face.  She  wore  a  dark  purple  dress,  with 
heavy  steel  ornaments,  which  gave  her  a  bluish  ghostly  look. 
She  was  attended  by  three  maids  of  honor,  one  of  whom,  by 
her  dazzling  beauty  and  exquisite  grace,  formed  a  strange 
contrast  with  her  mistress. 

The  Duchess  de  Berri,  notwithstanding  her  unpromising 
appearance  at  this  time,  is  not  to  be  mentioned  without 
respect.  When  her  husband  was  struck  by  the  assassin, 
instead  of  yielding  to  the  terror  which,  especially  in  her 
situation  at  that  time,  might  well  have  been  pardoned,  she 
sprang  from  her  carriage,  and,  tearing  the  sash  from  her 
waist,  strove  to  bind  up  the  Prince's  wounds,  from  which 
streams  of  blood  flowed  upon  her  as  she  held  him  in  her 
arms.  Six  months  after  his  death,  she  gave  birth  to  the 
Duke  de  Bordeaux,  the  present  representative  of  the  elder 
branch  of  the  house  of  Bourbon,  under  the  name  of  Henry 
the  Fifth.  When  that  branch  fell  by  the  Revolution,  which 
placed  the  head  of  the  younger  branch,  the  late  Louis  Phil 
ippe,  on  the  throne,  she  alone  displayed  the  manly  qualities 


152  THE  MOUNT  VEKNOX  PAPERS. 

which  showed  her  worthy  to  have  filled  it.  Long  after  the 
male  members  of  the  family  had  gone  into  exile,  she  returned 
to  France,  traversed  the  departments,  openly  or  in  disguise, 
(in  direct  opposition  to  the  judgment  and  wishes  of  M.  de 
Chateaubriand  and  M.  Berry  er  and  the  other  responsible 
leaders  of  her  party,)  seeking  to  rally  the  supporters  of  the 
fallen  dynasty,  and  prepare  the  way  for  its  return.  She  was 
closely  tracked  by  the  police,  but  so  complete  and  varied 
were  her  disguises,  and  so  vigilant  and  faithful  her  adherents, 
that  for  five  months  she  escaped  her  pursuers.  Sometimes 
she  assumed  the  dress  of  a  shepherdess,  at  others  that  of  a 
miller ;  at  one  time  she  was  to  all  appearance  a  chamber 
maid,  and  then  a  peasant's  wife.  Several  times  she  was 
conveyed  to  a  place  of  safety  wrapped  up  in  a  bundle  of 
clothes,  on  the  back  of  a  sturdy  porter.  At  length,  thinking 
herself  safer  in  a  large  city,  she  took  up  her  abode  at  Nantes, 
where  she  was  betrayed  by  a  converted  Jew,  who  for 
some  time  had  served  her  faithfully,  and  won  her  confidence. 
He  pointed  out  the  place  of  her  residence  to  the  police  ;  they 
entered  it,  but  could  find  no  one  within.  They  were  accom 
panied  by  masons  and  other  artificers  to  sound  the  walls  for 
places  of  concealment,  but  none  were  found.  The  corner  of 
one  of  the  rooms  contained  a  chimney,  in  which  the  gens- 
cFarmes  had  lighted  a  fire  during  the  night.  It  had  been 
allowed  to  go  out,  but  was  rekindled  in  the  morning.  It 
appeared  to  the  police  that  some  change  had  been  made  in 
the  fire-place  and  chimney  during  the  night,  by  which  the 
position  of  the  burning  fuel  was  elevated.  Voices  also  were 
heard  behind  the  chimney.  The  fire  was  now  increased,  and 
the  heat  rendered  so  great,  that  the  Duchess  de  Berri,  with 
three  of  her  ladies,  who  were  concealed  in  a  hole  to  which  the 
iron  back  of  the  chimney  was  a  sliding  door,  was  obliged  to 
come  out  and  surrender  herself.  They  had  remained  fifteen 
hours  in  this  dismal  place  of  concealment ! 

The  above  described  presentations  lasted  about  two  hours. 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPEKS.  153 

The  narrative,  after  so  many  years,  may  seem  somewhat  arid 
and  uninteresting,  but  at  that  time  the  restoration  of  the 
Bourbons,  and  indeed  the  stupendous  tragedies  of  the  reign  of 
terror,  were  events  so  recent,  as  to  impart  some  degree  of 
painful  interest,  even  to  a  merely  ceremonial  occasion  of  this 
kind.  One  could  not  help  scrutinizing  the  features  of  the 
Duchess  d'Angouleme,  to  see  if  they  reflected,  in  any  degree, 
the  radiance  of  that  "  delightful  vision,"  which  kindled  the 
imagination  of  Burke.  Is  this  stricken  woman,  whose  hard 
features  and  tearful  eyes  awaken  mingled  aversion  and  pity, 
the  child  of  that  youthful  mother,  whom  the  greatest  of 
modern  orators  saw  and  wondered  at  "just  above  the  hor 
izon,  decorating  and  cheering  the  elevated  sphere  she  had  just 
begun  to  move  in, — glittering  like  the  morning  star,  full  of 
life,  splendor,  and  joy "  ?  Is  the  person,  who,  twenty-five 
years  ago,  was  pronounced  by  Burke  to  be,  nowithstanding 
some  human  frailties,  a  "  character  full  of  probity,  honor,  gen 
erosity,  and  real  goodness,"  excelling  Louis  XVI.  "  in  general 
knowledge,  and  in  a  sharp  and  keen  observation,  with  some 
thing  of  a  better  address,  and  a  happier  mode  of  speaking  and 
writing ;  his  conversation  open,  agreeable,  and  well  informed ; 
his  manner  gracious  and  princely,"  is  he  the  shattered  form 
that  stands  before  us,  advanced  in  years,  laden  with  infirm 
ities,  with  little  personal  dignity,  and  no  influence  in  his 
government,  once  driven  from  the  throne  to  which  foreign 
armies  had  conducted  him,  and  still  holding  it  by  a  most 
precarious  tenure?  Is  all  that  remains  of  that  Count  d'Artois, 
"  eloquent,  lively,  engaging  in  the  highest  degree,  of  a  decided 
character,  full  of  energy  and  activity ;  the  brave,  honorable, 
and  accomplished  cavalier,"  to  be  found  in  that  unimposing 
and  insignificant  presence,  destined  in  a  few  years  to  mount 
the  throne,  only  to  be  driven  from  it  by  his  own  kinsman, 
into  an  unpitied  exile  ?  Is  this  timid  little  foreigner,  that 
scarce  sustains  herself  as  she  makes  the  circuit  of  her  draw 
ing-room,  destined  to  be  the  mainstay  and  hope  of  the  oldest 
7* 


154:  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

of  the  Royal  houses  of  Europe ;  and  we  may  now,  after  the 
event,  well  exclaim  with  astonishment,  is  she,  daughter  of  one 
crown  prince,  wife  of  another,  to  strive  in  vain,  in  two  years, 
to  stanch  her  husband's  life-blood,  as  it  flows  beneath  the 
assassin's  dagger  ;  and  is  she  literally  doomed  in  twelve 
years  more  to  pass  through  a  fiery  furnace  in  order  to  escape 
the  pursuers  who  are  dogging  her  by  order  of  her  Royal 
relative,  who  has  seated  himself  on  the  throne  to  which  her 
son  is  the  "  legitimate  "  heir  1  What  a  shocking  sight  for 
men  and  angels,  a  widowed  mother  of  the  presumptive  heir 
to  the  throne  of  France  half  baked  alive,  not  under  Marat, 
Danton,  or  Robespierre,  but  under  the  reign  of  a  wise  and 
dement  prince,  her  kinsman ! 


NUMBEK   SEVENTEEN. 

LORD   ERSKINE'S   TESTIMONY   TO   WASHINGTON. 

Lord  Erskine  said  by  Lord  Campbell  to  have  saved  the  liberties  of  his  country — His 
testimony  to  Washington — Sketch  of  his  life — The  Earl  of  Buchan — Narrow  cir 
cumstances  of  the  family — Enters  the  navy — Original  anecdote  of  his  surveying 
the  coast  of  Florida — Passes  from  the  navy  to  the  army — Commences  the  study 
of  the  law — Brilliant  debut  in  the  Greenwich  Hospital  case — His  own  account  of 
the  manner  in  which  he  came  to  be  retained  in  that  case — Extract  from  the 
pamphlet  sent  by  him  to  General  Washington — His  tribute  to  Washington  on  the 
blank  leaf. 

ONE  of  the  noblest  testimonies  to  the  character  of  Wash 
ington  is  that  of  Lord  Erskine.  It  is  written  on  a  blank  leaf 
in  a  presentation  copy  of  a  pamphlet  by  him,  published  in 
1797,  and  entitled  "  a  view  of  the  causes  and  consequences  of 
the  present  war  with  France."  The  little  volume  purports 
to  be  of  the  twenty-second  edition,  and  it  is  said  to  have 
reached  the  thirty-seventh  edition.  The  copy  in  question  was 
sent  by  Lord  Erskine  to  General  Washington,  and  is  still 
preserved  at  Mount  Vernon.  Before  quoting  this  remarkable 
testimony,  let  us  contemplate,  for  a  few  moments,  its  illus 
trious  author,  whom  the  present  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  Eng 
land  pronounces  the  "  brightest  ornament  of  which  the  English 
bar  can  boast ;" — who  "  saved  the  liberties  of  his  country." 

He  was  born  (says  Lord  Campbell)  on  the  10th  day  of 
January,  1750.  He  states  himself,  in  a  memorandum  dic 
tated  to  Mr.  Samuel  Rogers,  of  which  a  copy  lies  before  me, 
and  to  which  I  shall  presently  return,  to  have  been  born  on 
the  21st  of  January,  1749.  He  was  the  youngest  of  the  sons 
of  the  tenth  earl  of  Buchan,  his  oldest  brother  being  the  Earl 


150  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

of  Buchan,  who  sought  to  gain  notoriety  as  the  correspondent 
of  Washington  ;  and  whose  egregious  vanity  led  him  to  aver 
that  the  most  eminent  men  were  usually  childless,  as  evinced 
by  the  three  greatest  men  of  the  age,  Frederic  the  Second, 
General  Washington,  and  himself. 

The  family  of  Thomas,  afterwards  Lord  Erskine,  was  of 
noble,  nay  royal,  descent,  but,  at  the  time  of  his  birth, 
had  sunk  into  very  straitened  circumstances.  Although  he 
early  showed  himself  a  bright  lad,  it  was  not  in  the  power  of 
his  parents  to  educate  him  for  a  profession,  their  frugal  means 
having  been  exhausted  in  bestowing  that  advantage  on  his 
older  brother,  Henry,  who  rose  to  eminence  as  a  lawyer. 
Thomas  was  forced  to  choose  between  the  army  and  the  navy. 
He  strongly  preferred  the  former,  as  likely  to  afford,  in  the 
leisure  of  country  quarters,  greater  opportunity  for  the  im 
provement  of  his  mind.  Circumstances,  however,  made  it 
necessary  for  him  to  adopt  the  other  branch  of  the  service, 
and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  he  entered  the  navy  as  a  midship 
man  on  board  "  The  Tartar  "  man-of-war,  commanded  by  Sir 
David  Lindsay.  Lord  Campbell,  in  his  biography  of  Lord 
Erskine,  says,  "  it  is  wronderful  to  think,  that  the  period  of  his 
life,  during  which  almost  all  those  whose  progress  to  great 
ness  I  have  described,  were  stimulated  to  lay  in  stores  of 
knowledge  at  public  schools  and  universities,  was  passed  by 
Erskine  in  the  hold  of  a  man-of-war  or  the  barracks  of  a 
marching  regiment.  But  his  original  passion  for  intellectual 
distinction  was  only  rendered  more  ardent  by  the  difficulties 
that  threatened  to  extinguish  it." 

He  remained  four  years  on  board  the  "  Tartar,"  cruising 
in  the  West  India  seas  and  on  the  coast  of  America.  Having 
had  the  good  fortune  to  make  Lord  Erskine's  acquaintance  in 
London  in  the  spring  of  1818,  I  heard  him  say,  on  one  occa 
sion,  that  he  had  a  very  accurate  knowledge  of  some  portions 
of  America,  having,  while  he  was  in  the  navy,  been  employed 
in  a  survey  of  the  coast  of  Florida  ;  and  that,  while  engaged 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  157 

in  that  duty,  "  he  had  turned  over  every  muscle  that  lay  gap 
ing  on  the  shore  !  "  During  his  cruise  he  became  an  acting 
lieutenant ;  but  on  his  return  to  England  his  ship  was  paid 
off,  and,  owing  to  the  great  number  that  stood  above  him  on 
the  list,  he  failed  to  obtain  a  lieutenant's  commission.  Deter 
mined  not  to  sink  back  to  the  rank  of  midshipman,  he  aban 
doned  the  navy,  and  obtained  the  commission  of  Ensign  in 
the  "  Royals  "  or  first  Regiment  of  foot.  His  father  was 
just  dead,  and  the  purchase  of  this  commission  absorbed  the 
whole  of  Thomas'  patrimony. 

For  two  years  his  regiment  was  quartered  in  various 
country  towns  of  England,  in  one  of  which,  at  the  age  of 
twenty,  and  with  no  establishment  but  Ensign's  pay,  he  fell 
in  love  with  a  young  lady  of  respectable  connections  and 
estimable  character,  and  married  her. 

This  imprudent  marriage  turned  out  auspiciously.  The 
young  couple  lived  in  uninterrupted  harmony.  His  regiment 
being  ordered  to  Minorca,  Mrs.  Erskine  accompanied  her 
husband  to  that  island.  In  this  secluded  spot  he  passed  two 
years,  insulated  from  the  world ;  but  they  were  no  doubt,  as 
is  remarked  by  Lord  Campbell,  "  the  most  improving  years 
he  ever  spent."  Laboriously  and  systematically  he  went 
through  a  course  of  English  literature.  Shakespeare  and 
Milton,  Dryden  and  Pope,  were  his  favorite  authors.  He 
occasionally  showed  the  versatility  of  his  powers  by  acting  as 
chaplain  to  his  regiment.  At  first  he  confined  himself  to 
reading  the  Liturgy  of  the  church  of  England,  but  as  his  men 
were  mostly  Presbyterians  and  discontented  with  the  use  of  a 
printed  form  of  worship,  he  "  favored  them,"  says  Lord 
Campbell,  "with  an  extempore  prayer,  and  composed  ser 
mons,  which  he  delivered  to  them  with  great  unction  from 
the  drum-head." 

The  regiment  returned  to  England  in  1772,  and  Ensign 
Erskine  obtained  a  leave  of  absence  for  six  months.  He 
availed  himself  of  this  opportunity  to  mingle  in  general 


158  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

society,  and  produced  quite  a  sensation  in  London  "  by  his 
agreeable  manners  and  graceful  volubility."  Boswell  men 
tions  seeing  him  at  dinner  in  company  with  Dr.  Johnson, 
with  whom  the  bold  young  officer  ventured  to  engage  in  argu 
ment,  first  on  the  comparative  merits  of  Fielding  and  Rich 
ardson,  and  then  on  the  miraculous  destruction  of  the  army 
of  Sennacherib,  in  the  Old  Testament.  He  combated  with 
success  Johnson's  absurd  paradox,  that  Fielding  was  "  a 
blockhead "  and  "  a  barren  rascal ;"  but  wandered  out  of 
his  depth  on  the  subject  of  the  Assyrian  catastrophe. 

In  1772  he  wrote  a  pamphlet,  which  attracted  attention, 
on  abuses  in  the  army,  and  in  1774  he  rose  to  the  rank  of 
Lieutenant.  In  August  of  that  year,  having  attended  a  trial 
under  Lord  Mansfield  (with  whom  he  was  acquainted)  as 
presiding  judge,  and  feeling  that  he  could  have  argued  the 
cause  himself, — stranger  as  he  was  to  the  forum, — better  than 
the  counsel  on  either  side,  he  conceived  the  thought  of  another 
change  of  profession,  and  determined  to  study  the  law.  Lord 
Mansfield,  the  same  day,  invited  him  to  dinner,  and,  being 
greatly  struck  with  his  conversation,  and  pleased  with  his 
manners,  detained  him  till  late  in  the  evening.  The  ambi 
tious  lieutenant  ventured  to  confide  his  newly  formed  purpose 
to  the  veteran  magistrate,  with  his  reasons  in  favor  of  its 
adoption.  He  was  not  discouraged  by  Lord  Mansfield,  who 
only  counselled  him  to  take  the  advice  of  his  mother  and 
other  near  relations.  The  project  was  warmly  approved  by 
his  mother. 

He  was  unable  to  execute  his  purpose  till  the  following 
spring,  when  he  was  admitted  as  a  student  at  Lincoln's  Inn. 
The  following  January  he  was  matriculated  at  Trinity  Col 
lege,  Cambridge,  thus,  in  name  at  least,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
five,  beginning  academical  and  professional  education  at  the 
same  time.  The  former,  however,  though  he  kept  his  rooms 
at  Cambridge,  wras  but  a  nominal  affair  ;  he  was,  as  being  of 
noble  family,  entitled  to  his  degree  without  examination ;  and 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  159 

in  this  way  was  able  to  cut  off  two  of  the  five  years  of  law 
study,  which  would  otherwise  have  been  required  of  him  be 
fore  he  could  be  called  to  the  bar. 

By  this  narrow  chance  was  Lord  Erskine  enabled  to  enter 
the  profession  in  which  he  earned  so  brilliant  a  reputation, 
and  which  carried  him  to  the  wool-sack.  He  was  admitted  a 
student  of  Lincoln's  Inn  just  one  week  after  the  commence 
ment  of  hostilities  at  Lexington.  Had  he  retained  his  com 
mission  in  the  army  but  a  few  days  longer,  the  news  that  the 
war  had  broken  out  would  have  reached  Great  Britain,  and  it 
would  have  been  impossible  for  him  to  resign  it  with  credit. 
He  must  have  taken  the  chance  of  active  service  in  America, 
and  all  thoughts  of  the  future  Chancellorship  would  have  van 
ished  like  a  sick  man's  dreams.  For  three  years  that  he  was 
studying  the  law  he  lived  in  great  poverty,  on  borrowed 
money,  in  small  lodgings,  near  Hampstead,  practising  painful 
economies  in  food  and  clothing,  and  expressing  the  greatest 
gratitude  to  the  manager  of  the  Covent  Garden  for  occasional 
free  admissions  to  the  theatre. 

He  was  called  to  the  bar  in  July,  1778,  and  sprang  at  one 
bound  to  practice,  fortune,  and  fame.  His  first  retainer,  pro 
cured  by  a  fortunate  accident,  before  he  was  actually  admitted 
to  the  bar,  was  as  junior  Counsel,  with  four  Counsel  learned 
in  the  law,  to  precede  him.  It  was  the  famous  cause  of  the 
Greenwich  Hospital.  Captain  Baillie,  deputy  governor  of 
that  institution,  had  written  a  pamphlet  exposing  the  gross 
abuses  which  had  crept  into  its  administration,  and  reflecting 
with  great,  but  just,  severity  upon  Lord  Sandwich,  the  first 
Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  and  several  subordinate  officials. 
For  this  publication,  Captain  Baillie  was  suspended,  and 
some  of  the  underlings  (at  the  instigation  of  Lord  Sandwich) 
obtained  a  rule,  to  show  cause,  at  next  Michaelmas  term,  why 
a  criminal  information  should  not  be  filed  against  Captain 
Baillie  for  a  libel. 

Lord    Campbell   relates   in  some  detail   the  manner  of 


160          THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

Erskine's  being  retained  in  this  memorable  cause,  but  I  am 
able  to  state  it  in  some  points  more  circumstantially  from  a 
memorandum  dictated  by  Lord  Erskine  himself  to  Mr. 
Samuel  Rogers,  in  1816,  and  copied  by  me  with  Mr.  Rogers' 
permission.  As  this  memorandum  has  never,  to  my  knowl 
edge,  been  published,  it  will,  I  think,  interest  the  reader. 

"  On  a  Sunday  in  June,  1778,  I  was  engaged  to  dine  with  Agar,  in 
New  Norfolk  street,  who  had  become  acquainted  with  me  at  Tunbridge 
Wells,  but  I  was  persuaded  by  a  young  man,  William  Lyon,  an  Attor 
ney,  to  walk  as  far  as  Enfield  Chase,  and  dine  Avith  Mr.  Barnes,  a  wine 
merchant  in  St.  Mary  Axe,  remarkable  for  the  excellence  of  his  cla 
ret.  When  half  way,  he  [Lyon]  challenged  me  to  leap  over  a  ditch  by 
the  road  side.  I  leapt  over  it,  but  in  returning,  the  bank  gave  way,  and 
I  fell  and  sprained  my  ancle.  The  expedition  was  over.  I  could  pro 
ceed  no  further,  and  returned  in  a  stage  coach.  *  *  *  My  wife  was 
confined  at  this  time,  and  at  her  suggestion  I  resolved  to  keep  my  en 
gagement  at  Agar's.  She  said  I  was  justly  punished,  and  I  felt  that  I 
was. 

"  When  I  arrived,  the  dinner  Avas  begun.  A  tall  man  drew  his  chair 
aside  and  I  went  into  the  gap.  lie  talked  much  about  the  pictures,  and 
so  did  I,  though  I  knew  little  of  the  subject,  turning  that  little  to  as 
good  an  account  as  I  could.  When  dinner  was  OA'er,  he  drew  Agar 
aside,  and  asked  who  I  was.  Agar  said  I  was  a  lawyer,  and  said  much 
in  my  favor.  '  Could  he  be  prevailed  upon  to  take  a  brief  from  my  bro 
ther  ?  '  '  Perhaps  he  could,'  said  Agar  in  his  pompous  manner. 

"  I  knew  nothing  of  this  conversation  ;  but  the  next  day,  my  servant 
John  Nichols,  who  had  served  under  me  in  '  the  Royals,'  and  who,  when 
he  set  my  books  in  order,  used  always  to  place  the  Bible  a-top,  as  that, 
he  said,  was  the  best  book,  told  me,  Avhen  he  opened  the  door,  that  I 
must  be  in  another  scrape,  for  a  cross,  ill-looking  man,  in  a  large,  gold 
laced,  cocked  hat,  had  been  twice  inquiring  for  me.  '  He  insists,  sir, 
upon  seeing  you,  and  is  at  this  moment  Avaiting  for  you  in  Bloomsbury 
Square  Coffee-house.'  I  went  there,  and  there  I  found  an  old  seaman, 
with  a  furrowed  face.  He  was  sitting  gloomily  in  one  of  the  boxes,  with 
a  small  red  trunk  on  the  table  before  him,  and  his  sword  lying  on  the 
trunk.  I  mentioned  my  name.  He  said,  '  There  are  my  papers ;  will 
you  read  them  over  ? '  It  ended  in  my  taking  them  home.  I  was  to  be 
called  to  the  bar  in  a  few  days,  (6th  of  July,)  and  at  a  consultation  held 
on  the  first  of  NoArcmbcr,  Bearcroft,  Peckham,  and  Murphy  were  for 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  161 

consenting  to  a  compromise,  our  client  to  pay  all  costs.  '  My  advice, 
gentlemen,'  I  said,  '  may  savor  more  of  my  late  profession  than  of  my 
present,  but  I  am  against  consenting.'  Til  be  d —  if  I  do,'  said  Baillie, 
and  he  hugged  me  in  his  arms,  saying,  'You  are  the  man  for  me.'  '  Then 
the  consultation  is  over,'  said  Bearcroft.  '  It  is,'  I  replied,  '  let  us  walk 
in  the  gardens.' 

"  When  the  cause  came  on,  the  Senior  Counsel  exhausted  the  day  and 
the  patience  of  the  Court.  It  grew  dusk  and  my  time  arrived,  when 
Lord  Mansfield  adjourned.  I  began  next  morning  fresh  and  before  a 
fresh  audience.  All  crowded  around  me,  and  when  it  was  over,  Sir 
Archibald  McDonald  had  known  me  at  school,  Lee  had  known  my 
father  at  Harrowgate,  and  that  night  I  went  home  and  saluted  my  wife, 
with  sixty-five  retaining  fees  in  my  pocket.  Had  I  not  taken  a  noble 
man's  degree  of  M.  A.,  I  could  not  have  been  called  to  the  bar  for  two 
years  later.  I  was  then  in  my  30th  year,  having  been  born  on  the  21st 
of  January,  1749."  *  *  * 

At  the  foot  of  this  memorandum,  Mr.  Rogers  had  written 
"  Dictated  by  him  "  (Lord  Erskine)  "  to  me,  as  I  sat  with 
my  pen  in  my  hand,  after  dinner  in  St.  James  place,  in 
1816."  S.  R. 

This  account,  it  will  be  perceived,  differs  in  some  details 
from  that  of  Lord  Campbell,  who  relates  with  greater  fulness 
the  manner  in  which  the  cause  was  argued  by  the  Senior 
Counsel.  It  seems  altogether  to  have  been  an  extraordinary 
affair,  and  not  the  least  remarkable  part  of  it,  according  to 
our  practice,  is,  that  a  young  man,  just  admitted  to  the  bar, 
should  have  made  the  closing  speech. 

Of  this  speech,  so  well  known  in  the  records  of  legal 
oratory,  Lord  Campbell  remarks  that  "  the  impression  made 
upon  the  audience  is  said  to  have  been  unprecedented  ;  and  I 
must  own  that,  all  the  circumstances  considered,  it  is  the 
most  wonderful  forensic  effort,  of  which  we  have  any  account 
in  our  annals."  It  was  a  fitting  commencement  of  that  noble 
career,  which  boasts  for  its  crowning  glories  the  vindication 
of  the  trial  by  Jury  in  all  its  efficiency,  the  establishment  of 
the  Liberty  of  Speech  and  the  Press  in  all  its  perfection,  and 
the  annihilation  of  the  abuse  of  constructive  treasons.  This 


162  THE  MOUNT  VEKXON  PAPERS. 

wonderful  speech  gained  for  Erskine,  at  one  blow,  the  reputa 
tion  of  a  consummate  advocate. 

In  the  pamphlet  named  at  the  commencement  of  the  ar 
ticle,  its  author  makes  the  following  allusion  to  Washington  : 

"The  pretence  of  a  war  waged  against  opinions,  to  check,  as  is  alleg 
ed,  the  contagion  of  their  propagation,  is  equally  senseless  and  ex 
travagant.  The  same  reason  might  equally  have  united  all  nations  in 
all  times,  against  the  progressive  changes  which  have  conducted  na 
tions  from  barbarism  to  light,  and  from  despotism  to  freedom.  It  ought 
indissolubly  to  have  combined  the  Catholic  kingdoms  to  Avage  eternal 
war,  till  the  principles  of  the  reformation,  leading  to  a  new  civil  estab 
lishment,  had  been  abandoned.  It  should  have  kept  the  sword  un 
sheathed,  till  the  United  Provinces  returned  to  the  subjection  of  Spain  ; 
until  King  William's  title  and  the  establishment  of  the  British  Revolu 
tion  had  given  way  to  the  persons  and  prerogatives  of  the  Stuarts ;  and 
until  Washington,  instead  of  yielding  up  the  cause  of  a  Republican 
empire  to  a  virtuous  and  a  free  People,  in  the  face  of  an  admiring  and 
astonished  world,  should  have  been  dragged  as  a  traitor  to  the  bar  of 
the  Old  Bailey  and  his  body  quartered  on  Tower  Hill." 

A  copy  of  this  pamphlet,  handsomely  bound  in  green 
morocco,  was  sent  by  Lord  Erskine  to  General  Washington, 
by  the  hand  of  Mr.  Bond,  of  Philadelphia,  with  the  following 
letter  written  on  the  blank  page.  General  Washington's  let 
ter  of  acknowledgment  will  be  found  in  his  works,  Vol.  XL,  p. 
209. 

To  General   Washington. 

SIR — I  have  taken  the  liberty  to  introduce  your  august  and  immortal 
name,  in  a  short  sentence,  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  book  I  send  to 
you.  I  have  a  large  acquaintance  among  the  most  valuable  and  exalted 
classes  of  men  ;  but  you  are  the  only  human  being  for  whom  I  ever  felt 
an  awful  reverence.  I  sincerely  pray  God  to  grant  a  long  and  serene 
evening  to  a  life  so  gloriously  devoted  to  the  universal  happiness  of  the 
world.  T.  ERSKINE. 

London,  15  Marc7i,  179T. 


NUMBEK  EIGHTEEN. 

THE  FINANCIAL  DISTRESS   OF   THE  YEAR  1857. 

PART    I. 

An  inquiry  into  the  causes  of  the  distress  of  the  year  1857  proposed — Difficulty  of 
the  investigation — The  facts  of  the  case  stated — And  the  extent  of  the  distress 
briefly  described — The  general  paralysis  of  business  and  credit — What  could 
have  produced  it,  in  the  absence  of  all  the  usual  causes  of  public  distress  ? — 
Its  probable  cause  to  be  found  in  DEBT — An  estimate  of  the  personal  debt  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States — Its  annual  interest  ninety  millions  of  dollars — The 
business  debt  is  vastly  greater — The  Corporate  debt — The  Bank  debt  and  the 
elements  of  which  it  is  composed — Banks  create  no  additional  capital — By  sudden 
contraction  of  credit  in  times  of  pressure  produce  or  increase  the  panic. 

SHORTLY  after  my  engagement  to  write  these  papers  was 
announced,  I  began  to  receive  letters,  from  different  parts  of 
the  country,  calling  my  attention  to  various  subjects  of 
inquiry  and  discussion.  Among  other  letters  I  received  one 
from  a,  friendly  correspondent  in  the  West,  personally  a 
stranger  to  me,  requesting  me  to  state,  if  possible,  the  precise 
cause  of  the  financial  distress  of  the  year  1857  ;  to  explain 
how  it  happened  that,  in  a  condition  of  great  and  general 
prosperity,  the  country  should  have  been  struck  as  with  a 
palsy  in  all  its  business  concerns,  from  which  it  has  hardly 
yet,  after  a  lapse  of  eighteen  months,  fully  recovered ;  and,  as 
this  is  not  the  first  instance  of  events  of  this  kind,  to  point 
out  how  their  periodical  recurrence,  in  something  like  a  regu 
lar  cycle,  can  be  prevented. 

My  well-meaning  correspondent  has  given  me  a  problem, 
which  requires  for  its  satisfactory  solution,  a  much  wiser  man 


164:  THE  MOUNT  VEBNON  PAPERS. 

than  I  am  ; — a  problem  which,  in  its  entire  comprehension, 
will  not  soon  receive  a  full  practical  answer.  Some  of  the 
topics  involved  in  the  inquiry  into  the  causes  of  the  distress 
of  the  year  before  the  last,  are  of  an  abstruse  and  subtle 
character,  particularly  those  which  relate  to  the  subject  of 
credit,  and  how  far  it  ought  to  be  resorted  to  in  carrying  on 
the  business  operations  of  the  community, — and  the  effect  of 
a  currency,  composed  of  coin  and  paper,  on  the  money  value 
of  commodities  at  home  and  abroad.  These  are  topics,  with 
respect  to  which  different  opinions  are  entertained  by  judi 
cious  and  wrell-informed  men.  The  other  part  of  the  inquiry, 
how  the  periodical  recurrence  of  these  seasons  of  general 
financial  and  commercial  embarrassment  can  be  prevented, 
embraces  moral  considerations,  the  justice  of  which  will  not 
be  questioned  in  theory,  but  which  it  is  extremely  difficult  to 
reduce  to  practice,  to  an  extent  sufficient  to  affect  the  condi 
tion  of  a  community. 

The  fact  itself  was  pronounced  by  my  unknown  but  intel 
ligent  correspondent  one  that  would  be  utterly  incredible,  had 
it  not  been  matter  of  daily  observation  throughout  the  Union ; 
it  was  nothing  less  than  the  almost  instantaneous  suspension 
of  active  business  operations  of  every  kind  and  in  •  every 
branch,  without  any  manifest  assignable  cause.  A  more  than 
usually  abundant  harvest  had  filled  the  granaries  of  the  great 
West  to  repletion,  but  at  the  season  of  the  year  when  the 
produce  of  the  interior  is  finding  its  way  to  its  markets, 
domestic  and  foreign,  the  steamers  on  the  great  rivers  and 
lakes  stood  still ;  the  canal  boats  ceased  to  ply  ;  and  the  rail 
road  trains  moved  backward  and  forward  with  less  than  half 
the  usual  amount  of  travel  and  transportation.  I  had  occasion 
just  as  the  crisis  was  coming  on,  to  travel  from  Boston  to 
Buffalo,  to  deliver  an  address  before  the  New  York  State 
Agricultural  Society.  Notwithstanding  the  great  resort  to 
the  State  Fair,  the  travel,  for  more  than  half  the  way,  was 
reduced  far  below  the  average  of  ordinal4}'  seasons.  I  took 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  165 

passage  at  Buffalo,  on  the  9th  of  October,  1857,  in  one  of  the 
magnificent  steamers  which  plied  between  that  city  and  Detroit, 
and  which  was  capable  of  lodging  two  thousand  persons.  It 
was  one  of  three  of  equal  or  greater  capacity.  The  number  of 
persons  actually  on  board  at  that  time  did  not  exceed  fifty  ! 
The  boats  on  the  line  had  been  for  some  time  running  to 
great  loss,  and  this  trip  of  the  9th  of  October  was  the  last  of 
the  season.  After  that  day  they  were  laid  up ; — two  or  three 
weeks  earlier  than  usual. 

A  similar  state  of  things  prevailed  in  the  manufacturing 
regions.  The  factories  either  wholly  stopped  or  worked  on 
short  time ;  and  then  rather  as  a  choice  of  evils,  to  prevent 
the  dispersion  of  skilled  labor,  and  injury  to  the  machinery 
by  disuse.  The  navigating  interest  shared  the  distress.  Our 
vessels  brought  home  cargoes  that  passed  into  the  public 
stores,  or  were  re-exported  at  great  loss.  The  freighting  bus 
iness  was  nearly  annihilated.  The  all-infecting  malady  of  the 
country  showed  itself,  in  its  most  malignant  form,  in  the 
banks,  and  a  general  suspension  of  specie  payments  completed 
at  once  and  indicated  the  universal  distress.  On  the  6th  of 
October,  as  I  was  leaving  Boston,  I  wras  told  by  the  President 
of  one  of  the  strongest  and  best  conducted  of  our  institutions, 
that,  let  what  would  happen,  the  banks  would  stand  firm  ; 
and  in  less  than  a  fortnight  a  universal  suspension  of  specie 
payments  had  begun  in  New  York,  and  extended  itself 
throughout  the  country.  So  complete  and  universal  was 
the  stagnation,  that  it  was  impossible  to  procure  a  draft  on 
New  York,  by  which  the  modest  proceeds  of  my  oration  on 
the  character  of  Washington  could  be  remitted,  from  a  pros 
perous  town  in  the  interior  of  Michigan. 

A  short  time  only  elapsed  before  the  necessary  conse 
quences  of  such  a  general  suspension  of  business  were  seen,  in 
a  prostration  as  general  of  credit,  and  in  rapidly  multiplying 
bankruptcies  of  individuals  and  corporations.  Powerful  man 
ufacturing  companies,  or  what  were  deemed  such,  failed ; 


166  THE  MOUNT  VEKXON  PAPERS. 

substantial  private  houses,  or  houses  accounted  substantial, 
sunk  ;  and  the  great  industrial  classes  of  the  community,  who 
live  by  the  earnings  of  their  daily  labor,  were  thrown  out  of 
employment,  and  driven  to  straits  for  the  support  of  them 
selves  and  their  families.  The  General  Government  at  length 
shared  in  the  embarrassment  of  the  people  ; — the  revenue  fell 
off,  and  temporary  expedients  became  necessary  to  carry  on 
the  ordinary  operations  of  the  Treasury. 

What  produced  this  most  extraordinary  condition  of 
things  ?  The  country  was  in  profound  peace.  No  hostile 
armies  traversed  and  wasted  it, — a  frequent  occurrence  in 
Europe  and  the  East.  Our  neutral  commerce  was  not,  as  at 
some  former  periods  of  our  history,  swept  from  the  ocean  by 
the  edicts  of  unscrupulous  rival  belligerents,  intent  upon 
injuring  each  other,  and  to  effect  that  object,  trampling  the 
Law  of  Nations  under  foot.  No  embargo,  or  non-intercourse 
sealed  our  ports.  No  untimely  frosts, — no  mysterious  blight 
menaced  famine  or  even  scarcity.  No  pestilence  walked  in 
darkness,  nor  destruction  wasted  at  noonday.  A  week  before 
the  panic  commenced  there  was  the  appearance  of  universal 
prosperity,  and  after  it  commenced  and  while  it  lasted,  the 
country  possessed,  and  that  in  abundance,  all  the  solid  ele 
ments  of  substantial  well-being.  Under  these  circumstances, 
how  was  it  possible, — under  similar  circumstances  how  is  it 
ever  possible, — that  an  intelligent,  energetic,  industrious,  and 
in  the  aggregate  virtuous  people,  living  under  a  free  govern 
ment,  and,  as  far  as  political  relations  are  concerned,  enjoying 
privileges  elsewhere  and  before  unknown  in  the  world,  should, 
even  for  a  short  time,  fall  into  a  state  of  general  embarrass 
ment  and  profound  distress  such  as  I  have  described  1 

I  hardly  know  whether  it  would  be  possible,  even  in  a 
voluminous  treatise  on  the  subject,  to  return  a  full  and  satis 
factory  answer  to  this  inquiry  ;  whether,  with  business  rela 
tions  extending  throughout  a  country  so  vast  and  with  a  pop 
ulation  so  enterprising  and  active  as  ours,  living  and  acting  in 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS.  167 

a  highly  artificial  state  of  society,  and  especially  under  a 
financial  system  singularly  complicated  and  confined, — it  is 
possible  to  trace  and  analyze  the  remote  and  occult  causes 
of  such  a  phenomenon.  They  may,  like  the  ultimate  secrets 
of  the  material  universe,  defy  the  grasp  of  our  minds. 

But  I  am  inclined  to  think,  that  there  is  one  great  efficient 
cause,  which  will  fully  account  for  a  large  part,  perhaps  the 
whole,  of  this  mighty  and  terrible  effect  ;  a  cause  so  simple, 
.so  homely,  so  near  at  hand,  that  men  overlook  it,  while  they 
are  exploring  the  metaphysics  of  currency,  credit,  and  the 
balance  of  trade. 

If  I  mistake  not,  the  distress  of  the  year  1857  was  pro 
duced  by  an  enemy  more  formidable  than  hostile  armies  ;  by 
a  pestilence  more  deadly  than  fever  or  plague ;  by  a  visita 
tion  more  destructive  than  the  frosts  of  Spring  or  the  blights 
of  Summer.  I  believe  that  it  was  caused  by  a  mountain  load 
of  DEBT.  The  whole  country,  individuals  and  communities, 
trading-houses,  corporations,  towns,  cities,  States,  were  labor 
ing  under  a  weight  of  debt,  beneath  which  the  ordinary  busi 
ness  relations  of  the  country  were,  at  length,  arrested,  and 
the  great  instrument  usually  employed  for  carrying  them  on, 
CREDIT,  broken  down.  Let  us,  by  looking  into  a  few  partic 
ulars,  see  whether  this  is  a  true  statement.  I  apprehend  that 
the  inquiry  will  disclose  some  startling  facts. 

I  will  first  speak  of  what  may  be  called  the  personal  debt 
of  the  country,  which  runs  up,  in  the  aggregate,  to  an  almost 
fabulous  amount.  The  free  population  of  the  United  States 
amounts,  at  the  present  time,  to  about  26,000,000  of  indi 
viduals,  which  will  give,  in  the  ordinary  calculation,  5,200,- 
000  heads  of  families.  I  assume  that  each  one  of  these  per 
sons  is  three  hundred  dollars  in  debt.  This  is,  of  course,  a 
purely  conjectural  sum.  Many  persons  may  think  it  too 
large ;  others  may  think  it  too  small ;  such  is  my  own  im 
pression.  I  believe  it  will  be  perfectly  safe  to  assume  that, 
in  consequence  of  the  natural  proclivity  to  anticipate  income, 


168  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

to  buy  on  credit,  to  live  a  little  beyond  our  means,  the  com 
munity  carries  with  it  through  life  a  debt  of  at  least  three 
hundred  dollars  for  each  family.  I  am  aware  that  there  are 
many  persons  who  "  owe  no  man  any  thing  but  to  love  one 
another ;  " — some,  I  fear,  there  are,  who  obey  the  apostolic 
injunction,  without  the  benign  qualification.  But,  on  the  con 
trary,  how  many  there  are  of  the  5,200,000  heads  of  families, 
who  owe  a  great  deal  more  than  three  hundred  dollars  ;  how 
many  individuals,  not  included  in  the  5,200,000,  who  have 
larger  or  smaller  debts  !  How  large  a  proportion  of  the  real 
property  of  the  country, — the  houses,  the  farms,  the  planta 
tions, — is  under  mortgage ;  and  of  those  who  have  no  real 
property  to  give  in  security,  how  many  pledge  their  credit  and 
honor  to  an  extent  at  least  equal  to  that  assured  !  When  all 
these  things  are  considered,  I  think  it  will  be  felt,  that  three 
hundred  dollars  is  a  moderate  sum  to  assume,  as  an  average 
amount  of  debt  for  every  head  of  a  family.  This  basis  of  cal 
culation  gives  us  fifteen  hundred  and  sixty  millions,  say  fifteen 
hundred  millions  of  dollars  as  the  private  personal  debt  of  the 
American  people,  or  about  one-half  of  that  national  debt  of 
England,  which  sits  like  an  incubus  on  the  taxable  resources 
of  that  country.  The  interest  of  this  sum  is  ninety  millions 
of  dollars,  which  the  people  of  this  country  have  to  pay  an 
nually  on  their  personal  debts.  Stated  in  this  naked  form  it 
is  a  frightful  sum ;  and  no  small  part  of  the  straits,  discom 
forts,  and  troubles  of  domestic  life  arise  from  this  perpetual 
strain  upon  the  family  resources.  Still,  in  a  time  of  pros 
perity,  the  burden  is  divided  among  so  many,  that  it  is  car 
ried  with  greater  or  less  ease,  according  to  the  amount  which 
weighs  on  each  individual ;  for  though  we  assume  for  calcula 
tion  an  equal  average  amount,  in  point  of  fact  the  burden  is 
very  unequally  divided.  Some  are  prudent  enough  to  be 
almost  or  quite  free ;  others,  as  the  popular  expression  is,  are 
"  over  head  and  ears." 

The  business  debt,  whether  in   trade,  manufactures,   or 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  169 

agriculture,  is  vastly  greater ;  probably  greater  in  this  country, 
in  proportion  to  its  population,  than  in  any  other  in  the  world. 
Almost  all  persons  in  business  extend  their  transactions  very 
far  beyond  their  capital.  A  merchant  or  manufacturer  with  a 
capital  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  will  often  trade  upon  a 
million.  This  I  have  been  told,  by  two  or  three  persons  them 
selves  extensively  engaged  in  trade,  is  not  an  extravagant  state 
ment  of  the  ratio  between  the  capital  and  the  business  of  our 
American  traders  and  manufacturers.  If  this  ratio  is  thought 
too  great,  let  us  reduce  it  one-half,  and  suppose  that  our  men 
of  business,  on  an  average,  extend  their  transactions  to  five 
times  the  amount  of  their  capital ;  that  is,  a  person  with  a 
solid  capital  of  a  hundred  thousand  dollars,  will  buy  and 
sell  to  the  amount  of  half  a  million.  He  will,  in  that  case, 
have  to  carry  a  debt  which  exceeds  his  capital  five-fold.  On 
this  basis,  to  get  at  what  may  be  called  the  business  debt  of 
the  country,  we  must  multiply  the  business  capital  by  five. 
I  presume  not  to  go  into  the  enormous  amount, — the  hun 
dreds  and  thousands  of  millions,  which  would  result  from  this 
multiplication,  and  which  represent  the  business  debt  of  the 
country. 

This  debt,  it  is  true,  unlike  the  personal  debt.,  is  supposed 
to  be  balanced  by  a  still  larger  amount  of  credits.  The 
trader  who  has  bought  four  hundred  thousand  dollars  worth 
of  goods  on  credit,  has  sold  them  or  expects  to  sell  them  for 
five  hundred  thousand ;  but  he  is  paid  in  the  first  instance  in 
credit,  that  is  in  debt.  While  things  are  prosperous  this 
untold  mass  of  debt  can  be  carried.  If  all  the  speculative 
purchases  and  sales  succeed,  the  debts  on  one  side  will  be 
balanced  by  the  credits  on  the  other,  but  if  any  great  de 
rangement  takes  place,  distress,  perhaps  ruin,  ensues  ; — to  a 
few  individuals,  if  the  disturbing  cause  is  confined  to  a  locality 
or  a  single  article  of  commerce ;  to  large  bodies, — to  the 
whole  community,  if  it  is  of  a  comprehensive  nature.  As 
soon  as  the  business  debt  becomes  oppressive,  the  personal 
8 


170  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

debt  above  alluded  to  begins  to  pinch ;  and  it  may  be  ob 
served,  (what  I  omitted  to  state,  in  reference  to  the  ratio  of 
capital  and  business,)  that  the  capital  of  the  country  is  at  all 
times  charged  with  the  maintenance  of  those  to  whom  it  be 
longs, — a  circumstance  which  materially  impairs  its  efficiency 
as  the  means  of  doing  business.  Most  men  possessed  of  a 
clear  property  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  probably  live 
at  an  expense  of  at  least  six  thousand  a  year,  which  reduces 
to  that  extent  the  efficiency  of  the  capital  as  a  basis  to  trade 
upon. 

Then  there  is  the  corporate  debt  of  the  country,  and  this 
of  two  kinds,  public  and  private.  By  the  former,  I  mean  the 
debt  of  the  General  Government,  of  the  States,  cities,  towns, 
and  other  political  and  public  bodies ;  by  the  latter,  the  debt 
of  the  various  private  corporations,  the  churches,  the  associa 
tions  of  all  kinds,  Eailroad  companies,  and  all  the  other  in 
corporated  bodies  which  have  business  transactions.  The 
amount  of  this  kind  of  debt  is  of  course  enormous,  many  hun 
dreds  of  millions,  and  much  of  it  has  been  improvidently  con 
tracted  ;  so  that  in  many  cases  no  permanent  value  has  been 
created  in  return. 

I  reserve  for  the  last  place  the  bank-debt,  which  is  of  a 
somewhat  peculiar  nature,  and  which  exercises  by  its  fluctua 
tions  a  controlling,  sometimes  disastrous,  influence  on  all  the 
other  debt — that  is,  all  the  other  business — of  the  country. 
The  remark  already  made  with  reference  to  the  ratio  of  the 
capital  and  business  of  individuals,  applies  with  nearly  equal 
force  to  the  capital  and  business  of  the  banks.  They  are,  at 
all  times,  largely  in  debt.  Their  circulation  is  all  debt ;  it  is 
avowedly  a  promise  to  pay  on  demand.  The  deposits  are  so 
much  debt,  which  the  banks  are  equally  obliged  to  pay  on 
demand  ;  and  these  two  kinds  of  debt  are  the  basis  of  a 
large  part  of  their  business  operations.  Besides  this,  bank 
capital,  however  solid,  does  not  even  profess  to  be  any  posi 
tive  addition  to  the  wealth  of  the  community.  The  sums  of 


THE  MOUNT  VEBNON  PAPERS.  171 

which  it  is  made  up,  of  course,  existed  elsewhere  before,  and, 
except  when  hoarded,  were,  in  some  way  or  other,  employed. 
The  banks  can  do  nothing  but  collect  them  into  masses,  avail 
able  for  business.  This  is  an  important  public  benefit,  but  it 
is  not  a  creation  of  capital.  The  circulating  paper  which  the 
banks  issue,  can  add  nothing  to  the  capital  of  the  country,  for 
it  is  nothing  but  the  evidence  of  debt.  The  bank  borrows  it 
from  the  public  without  interest,  and  lends  it  back  to  the  pub 
lic  at  six  or  seven  per  cent.  That  such  an  operation  should  be 
thought  to  add  to  the  wealth  of  a  community  is  not  one  of 
the  least  remarkable  delusions  of  the  day. 

The  banks  then  are  among  the  largest  debtors  of  the  coun 
try.  It  is  true  they  are  also  among  the  largest  creditors ; 
but  their  credits  are  on  time  ;  their  debts  are  due  on  demand ; 
and  their  immediately  available  means  are  notoriously  inade 
quate  to  meet  that  demand.  By  rapid  contractions  of  their 
credits  when  their  debts  are  pressed  upon  them  for  payment, 
they  create  or  increase  a  panic,  and  when  it  is  created,  they 
suspend  payment,  and  drag  the  whole  community  Avith  them 
into  bankruptcy. 

If  such  as  we  have  described  it  is  the  real  state  of  things, 
— if  the  country  is  burdened  with  this  enormous  amount  of 
debt,  public  and  private,  individual  and  corporate,  it  is  quite 
evident,  that  on  the  occurrence  of  any  cause,  real  or  imagin 
ary,  which  powerfully  affects  the  public  mind,  which  produces 
alarm,  and  so  checks  the  renewal  or  the  extension  of  credit, 
and  compels  the  whole  business  community  to  demand  pay 
ment  in  order  that  it  may  make  payment,  a  general  stoppage 
must  ensue.  There  is  no  solid  basis  on  which  to  stand  and 
resist  the  rushing  tide.  Almost  everybody  is  under  obliga 
tions  beyond  his  immediately  available  means ;  and  the  few 
that  have  property  are  afraid  to  trust  it  in  any  investment. 
Above  a  million  of  dollars,  belonging  to  a  person  who  never 
willingly  left  a  dollar  unemployed,  lay  idle  in  the  banks  of 
Boston,  during  the  panic  of  the  year  1857. 


172  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

The  real  cause  of  the  distress,  then,  of  the  year  before  the 
last,  was  the  overwhelming  DEBT  of  the  country,  and  the  shock 
given  to  credit,  by  which  alone  that  debt  is  sustained.  I  re 
serve  to  another  occasion  the  application  of  these  views,  as 
suggesting  the  only  practical  remedy. 


NUMBER  NINETEEN. 

THE  FINANCIAL  DISTRESS  OF  THE  YEAR   1857. 

PART    II. 

The  view  taken  in  the  preceding  paper  best  explains  the  periodical  recurrence  of  a 
financial  crisis — Origin  of  the  term  Panic — Its  connection  with  seasons  of  pressure 
and  distress — The  only  remedy  is  to  keep  out  of  debt — The  abuses  of  credit  the 
chief  cause  of  great  commercial  revulsions — Long  credits  deprecated  by  distin 
guished  financial  authorities — The  agency  of  banks  in  the  dangerous  extension  of 
credit — Doubtful  utility  of  a  paper  currency — Individual  prudence  must  furnish 
the  main  protection — The  soundness  of  these  views  confirmed  by  the  manner  in 
which  the  country  is  returning  to  a  state  of  prosperity. 

THE  view  taken  in  the  preceding  number  of  the  real  cause 
of  the  financial  distress  of  the  year  1857,  viz.,  the  mountain 
mass  of  debt  under  which  the  community  was  laboring,  will 
best  explain  the  periodical  recurrence  of  a  similar  state  of 
things.  The  process  of  running  in  debt  is,  in  its  very  nature, 
a  gro\v  ing  one.  It  rarely  stops  while  it  can  by  possibility  be 
carried  on.  With  respect  to  what  I  have  called  the  personal 
debt  of  the  country,  if  the  means  of  the  individual  do  not 
enable  him,  in  the  first  instance,  to  get  through  the  year  with 
out  anticipating  the  next  year's  income,  he  will,  the  second 
year,  besides  his  current  expenses,  have  a  debt, — and  soon  an 
interest-bearing  debt, — to  take  care  of.  Accustomed  grad 
ually  in  this  way  to  live  in  part  on  credit,  he  soon  begins  to 
resort  to  it  from  convenience,  as  he  did  at  first  from  neces 
sity.  Family  expenses  usually  go  on  increasing, — the  happy 
accident  which  is  greatly  to  augment  one's  means  never  turns 
up ;  and  the  debt,  which  I  have  supposed  averages  at  least 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

three  hundred  dollars  for  every  head  of  a  family,  swells  till  it 
is  arrested  by  a  forced  liquidation,  which  comes  sooner  or 
later  in  the  case  of  each  individual,  according  to  the  extent  of 
his  ability  to  carry  a  debt. 

The  business  debt  of  the  country  goes  on  increasing  till  it 
can  increase  no  longer,  by  a  still  more  certain  law.  If  the 
business  is  what  is  called  prosperous,  the  trader  is  tempted 
on  "  to  enlarge  the  sphere  of  his  operations,"  which  means,  to 
strain  his  resources  still  further ;  to  buy  and  sell  more 
largely,  and  of  course  on  credit ;  his  personal  expenditure 
increasing  all  the  while,  and  he  himself  often  tempted  into 
new  fields  of  enterprise,  with  which  he  is  unacquainted.  The 
panic  of  1837  and  that  of  1857  were  both  preceded  by  sea 
sons  of  unprecedented  activity  in  the  business  world.  In  the 
former  year,  besides  a  strange  expansion  in  every  other  direc 
tion,  the  public  lands  were  purchased  in  such  fabulous  quan 
tities,  that  it  became  necessary  to  relieve  the  plethora  of  the 
treasury  by  a  distribution  of  the  surplus  revenue  !  The  crisis 
came,  however,  before  the  last  instalment  was  paid. 

In  the  year  1857,  business  of  all  kinds  had  been  quickened 
by  the  influx  of  California  gold,  which  gave  a  fallacious  strength 
to  the  banks,  and  tempted  them  not  merely  to  aid,  but  to 
stimulate,  speculation.  On  this  occasion,  the  West  became 
again  the  great  field,  where  golden  visions  of  sudden  wealth 
were  to  be  realized.  The  stock  of  railroads  through  tracts 
of  country  to  which  the  Indian  title  was  but  recently  extin 
guished,  and  town  lots  in  pathless  wildernesses,  were  sought 
with  avidity  throughout  the  older  States.  A  few  highest 
prizes  in  this  lottery,  drawn  by  "  fortunate  individuals," 
turned  the  heads  of  thousands,  who  dreamed  of  the  same 
good  luck,  and  awoke  ruined. 

But  the  business  debt  like  the  personal  debt  has  its  limits; 
— it  cannot  go  on  forever.  The  time  comes  at  length  when 
borrowing  must  cease  and  paying  must  begin.  An  uneasy 
feeling  begins  to  pervade  the  community.  The  banks  and 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  175 

the  men  of  solid  wealth,  who  watch  the  signs  of  the  times 
with  care,  understand  the  portents.  A  crisis  is  perceived  to 
be  coming  on, — and  with  the  unerring,  but  not  always  wise, 
instinct  of  self-interest,  the  individuals  and  the  institutions  of 
the  creditor  class,  seek,  not  to  avert  the  storm,  but  to  secure 
themselves  from  its  fury.  Further  accommodations  are  now 
refused,  credits  contracted,  loans  called  in.  The  ship  is  put 
under  snug  canvas,  and  men  wait  in  feverish  anxiety  for  the 
white  squall  to  burst.  It  may  come  from  a  quarter  and  in  a 
shape  absurdly  disproportioned  in  appearance  to  the  effect 
produced  ; — as  in  the  failure  of  the  Ohio  Trust  Company  the 
year  before  the  last.  The  whole  debt  of  that  institution  was 
a  small  percentage  on  the  aggregate  of  the  money  transac 
tions  of  the  New  York  banks  for  one  day  ;  and  yet,  as  far  as 
any  individual  cause  can  be  pointed  out,  its  failure  gave  the 
alarm,  which  ended  in  the  temporary  prostration  of  the  credit, 
and  suspension  of  the  business  of  the  whole  country. 

But  even  the  dictionaries  teach  us  that  it  is  idle  to  inquire 
into  the  cause  of  a  Panic  ;  that  is  the  immediate  cause  ; — the 
word  is  used  to  signify  a  great  and  general  alarm,  without 
any  apparent  adequate  cause.  In  the  oldest  heathen  mythol 
ogy,  Pan  blew  his  conch  shell,  when  the  Titans  were  fighting 
with  the  gods.  The  audacious  rebels  had  stood  undaunted 
against  the  thunders  of  Jupiter,  but  they  fled  at  the  blast  of 
this  harsh  clarion.  Having  succeeded  so  well  on  this  occa 
sion,  Pan  accompanied  Bacchus  on  his  expedition  to  India, 
where  on  a  certain  occasion  he  gave  a  wild  scream,  which 
filled  the  echoes  of  the  mountains  and  put  the  enemy  to  flight. 
These  old  fables — (what  foundation  of  fact  they  may  have 
had  in  the  experience  of  infant  humanity,  who  can  tell  ?) — 
struck  to  the  heart  of  the  race,  and  have  given  a  name  to 
saddest  realities  in  every  period  of  history.  Old  dynasties 
have  sunk, — mighty  battles  have  been  lost, — revolutions  have 
been  commenced  by  Pan-ic  fears.  One  of  the  most  authentic 
signs  of  the  last  dread  consummation  is  "  men's  hearts  failing 


176  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

them  for  fear ; "  and  when  this  takes  place,  no  form  of  disor 
ganization  and  ruin  is  just  matter  of  surprise.  The  cracking 
of  a  seat,  or  a  mischievous  cry  of  fire,  will,  in  an  instant,  set 
assembled  thousands  of  intelligent  persons  frantic  with  terror, 
and  cause  them  to  trample  each  other  to  death,  in  their  insane 
haste  to  escape  from  the  building.  A  great,  strong  ship 
strikes  an  iceberg,  and  discipline  is  sometimes  instantly  sub 
verted,  all  hope  of  escape  in  the  life-boats  blasted,  by  the 
fierce  haste  with  which  they  are  lowered  into  the  sea  and 
overcrowded  in  the  dismay  of  the  moment,  and  hundreds  of 
lives  lost  when  all  might  have  been  rescued.  Almost  all  the 
great  battles  of  ancient  and  modern  times,  from  Pharsalia  to 
Waterloo,  have  probably  been  decided  at  last  by  Panic. 
Miracles  of  valor  are  performed  by  brave  men,  blood  flows 
like  water ; — at  length  a  wild  cry  is  heard,  on  one  side  or  the 
other,  that  all  is  lost, — and  with  that  cry  all  is  lost. 

It  is  so  in  a  financial  Crisis;  a  cry  of  alarm  is  raised  per 
haps  by  a  feeble  voice,  perhaps  from  an  insignificant  quarter ; 
but  its  foundation,  in  the  general  state  of  things,  is  felt  by  too 
many  persons  to  be  just.  All,  alike  the  creditor  and  the 
debtor  class,  know  that  the  country  is  staggering  under  a  load 
of  debt.  Most  persons  in  active  business  unite  the  two  char 
acters  of  creditor  and  debtor ;  and,  either  coerced  by  the  ne 
cessity  of  meeting  his  own  engagements  or  from  the  desire  of 
securing  what  is  due  to  him,  every  man  demands  payment  at 
the  same  time,  and  general  bankruptcy  ensues.  From  a  con 
dition  of  careless  and  joyous  prosperity,  the  community 
passes  in  a  week  into  one  of  embarrassment,  terror,  and  for 
too  many  persons,  hopeless  ruin.  Individuals  indebted  to 
the  extent  of  from  five  to  ten  times  their  capital ;  banks  that 
have  one  specie  dollar  in  their  vaults,  for  from  five  to  six  of 
their  deposits  and  circulation,  are  struck  with  the  panic.  All 
grasp  at  once  at  the  means  of  paying  their  debts,  and  find  the 
debts  many  times  larger  than  the  available  means  of  pay 
ment. 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  177 

What,  then,  is  the  remedy  !  Unhappily  it  is  so  simple,  so 
destitute  of  all  financial  refinement,  so  much  at  war  with  the 
speculating  character  of  the  age,  that  the  very  mention  of  it 
will,  with  many  persons,  excite  no  feelings  but  those  of  pity 
and  derision.  It  is  just  to  keep  out  of  debt.  As  far  as  per 
sonal  expenses  are  concerned,  live  within  your  means.  Leav 
ing  out  of  view  a  small  class  of  exceptional  cases,  in  which 
large  future  accessions  of  fortune  can  be  depended  on,  your 
means  will  never  be  much  ampler  than  they  now  are.  If 
your  trade,  your  business,  your  profession  does  not  support 
you  now,  it  never  will ;  because  you  will  generally  find  that 
your  expenses  will  steadily  increase  with  your  earnings  or 
your  income.  Your  family  will  grow,  your  wants  will  mul 
tiply,  the  standard  of  comfortable  living  will  be  constantly 
rising ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  you  will  have  sickness  in  your 
family,  or  some  unexpected  burden  will  come  upon  you  ; — in 
short,  if  you  get  into  the  habit  of  borrowing  and  living  on 
credit,  nine  times  out  of  ten  you  will  never  get  out  of  it. 
You  will  live  under  the  harrow  all  your  life,  and  sooner  or 
later  be  compelled  to  seek  relief  by  painful  and  mortifying 
sacrifices. 

So  too  of  the  business  debt.  I  am  well  aware  that  the 
astonishing  growth  of  this  country  in  material  wealth  is 
ascribed  by  many  persons  to  the  great  facilities  which  have 
existed  for  doing  business  on  credit.  Without  intending  at 
all  to  question  the  utility  of  credit  rightfully  understood  and 
kept  within  proper  limits,  I  would  rather  say,  that  the  coun 
try  has  prospered,  not  in  consequence  of  the  facility  with 
which  credit  has  been  obtained,  but  in  spite  of  its  abuses. 
The  vast  body  of  land  within  the  territorial  limits  of  the 
country  ; — its  almost  boundless  means  of  internal  and  ex 
ternal  communication  by  ocean,  river,  and  lake, — the  average 
fertility  of  much  of  its  soil,  and  the  abundance  and  variety  of 
its  staple  products  ;  its  free  political  institutions  ;  the  energy 
and  enterprise  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  and  the  yearly  acces- 
8* 


178  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

sion  from  abroad  of  an  immense  amount  of  adult  labor, — 
these  are  the  main  causes  of  the  rapid  growth  of  the  country. 
Facilities  of  credit  have  in  some  cases  and  under  some  con 
ditions  safely  supplied  the  place  of  solid  capital  and  antici 
pated  its  creation.  But  this  advantage  is  to  be  offset  by  the 
ruinous  public  enterprises,  and  the  untold  amount  of  private 
bankruptcy,  which  have  been  the  disastrous  result  of  easy 
borrowing  at  home  and  abroad. 

I  heard  a  gentleman  of  acute  observation  and  large  expe 
rience  say,  many  years  ago,  that  he  had  made  out  two  lists, 
one  of  a  considerable  number  of  farmers,  and  the  other  of 
merchants,  starting  with  fair  prospects  in  life  ; — the  one  class 
to  live  upon  the  produce  of  their  farms,  tilled  for  the  most 
part  by  their  own  hands,  and  this  under  the  comparatively 
imperfect  system  of  agriculture  which  prevailed  in  the  last 
generation ;  the  other  to  take  their  chances  in  the  lottery  of 
commerce.  At  the  end  of  the  term  for  which  the  comparison 
was  made,  the  farmers  were  the  more  prosperous  body. 
None  of  them  had  become  very  rich  ; — a  few  only  had  wholly 
failed  in  life,  and  those  few  from  causes  not  essentially  con 
nected  with  agricultural  pursuits.  The  greater  part  had  lived 
and  brought  up  their  families  in  comfort.  Of  the  merchants, 
by  far  the  greater  part  had  wholly  failed ;  and  one  or  two 
only  had  greatly  prospered. 

I  know  of  no  circumstance  so  likely  to  produce  this  effect, 
as  doing  business  mainly  on  borrowed  means ;  keeping  your 
all  at  the  mercy  of  events,  over  which  you  have  no  control ; 
the  probity  or  the  solvency  of  others  ;  political  influences  at 
home ;  the  chances  of  peace  and  war  abroad ;  your  own 
continued  health ;  in  a  word,  the  innumerable  contingencies 
of  life. 

Nor  let  it  be  thought  that  this  idea  of  greatly  limiting  the 
use  of  credit  is  the  mere  theoretical  fancy  of  a  person,  who 
knows  nothing  practically  of  the  subject.  The  President  of 
the  Bank  of  Commerce  in  New  York  writing  to  Mr.  Nathan 


THE  MOUNT  VEKXON  PAPERS.  179 

Appleton  in  Boston,  a  few  days  before  the  suspension  of 
specie  payments  in  1857,  says  "  when  will  your  banks  confine 
themselves  to  short  dates,  and  cease  to  encourage  the  per 
nicious  system  of  long  credits — credits  ramified  to  the  last 
degree,  from  which  spring  most  of  your  difficulties?"  Mr. 
Appleton  in  reply  says,  "  I  have  always  been  opposed  to  the 
system  of  long  credits,  but  I  recollect  very  well  that  it  was  in 
consequence  of  eight  months  being  the  established  credit  given 
by  the  New  York  importers,  that  we  were  obliged  to  submit 
to  the  same  in  our  manufactures."  These  two  gentlemen 
differed  only  as  to  what  may  be  called  long  credits,  and  where 
the  responsibility  of  favoring  them  rests. 

The  banks,  of  course,  are  mainly  responsible  for  the  undue 
expansion  of  credit,  which  has  proved  so  pernicious.  These 
institutions  are  created  in  many  cases  for  the  benefit  of  a  few 
individuals,  principally  active  in  getting  them  up.  Their 
capital  is  often  to  a  considerable  degree  fictitious,  paid  in  one 
day  and  borrowed  out  the  next,  not  in  the  discount  of  busi 
ness  paper,  but  to  be  employed  in  speculations,  wholly  un 
justifiable  on  any  sound  banking  principles.  Where  a  solid 
capital  is  actually  paid  in,  a  desire  to  increase  the  profits  of 
the  bank  often  leads  it  to  push  its  accommodations  beyond 
the  limits  of  prudence  and  safety.  In  the  month  of  January 
1857,  the  banks  of  New  York  owed  one  hundred  and  four 
millions  of  dollars  to  their  depositors  and  bill  holders,  and 
they  had  eleven  millions  of  specie  in  their  vaults.  In  other 
words,  they  were  carrying  a  fearful  debt  themselves,  to  enable 
their  customers  to  carry  one  equally  fearful.  In  a  little  more 
than  nine  months,  under  the  influence  of  no  assignable  cause 
but  panic,  banks  and  customers  in  New  York  and  throughout 
the  greater  part  of  the  Union,  were  involved  in  one  common 
bankruptcy. 

Banks  of  deposit  and  discount,  confining  their  operations 
strictly  to  business  paper  of  short  date,  would  no  doubt  be 
of  great  convenience  in  carrying  on  an  active  commerce. 


180  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

They  would  insure  the  safe  keeping  of  large  sums  of  money  ; 
bring  idle  funds  into  active  use ;  facilitate  payments,  and 
hasten  the  consummation  of  business  transactions.  But  it 
may  well  be  doubted  whether  banks  of  circulation,  that  is, 
banks  authorized  by  the  States  to  create  a  paper  currency, 
which,  having  no  real  value,  is  accepted  by  the  public  as  if  it 
were  solid  money,  are  not  in  the  long  run,  an  injury  rather 
than  a  benefit  to  the  community.  They  have  directly  and 
indirectly  had  the  chief  agency  in  causing  those  periodical 
seasons  of  pressure  and  distress,  which  have  so  often  occurred 
in  this  country,  and  with  such  disastrous  consequences  to  in 
dividuals  and  the  public. 

It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  there  is  very  little 
hope  of  a  remedy.  Although  the  public  mind  is  probably 
almost  unanimous  in  the  conviction,  that  a  National  Bank, 
once  deemed  by  many  persons  absolutely  essential  for  the 
collection  of  the  revenue  and  the  regulation  of  the  currency,  is 
by  no  means  necessary  either  for  the  government  or  the  peo 
ple  ; — there  is  not  the  least  probability  that  the  States  will 
forego  the  power  of  establishing  local  banks,  and  clothing 
them  with  the  right  to  create  a  fictitious  currency.  Such 
being  the  case,  the  country  is  too  likely,  in  time  to  come  as 
in  time  past,  to  suffer  every  twenty  or  twenty-five  years  the 
enormous  evils  resulting  from  the  inflation  of  credit,  and  the 
arbitrary  expansion  and  contraction  of  a  circulating  medium, 
resting  on  misplaced  confidence  and  not  on  a  basis  of  solid 
value. 

There  remains  then  no  remedy,  but  that  not  entirely  effi 
cient,  yet  still  very  important  one,  which  each  individual  is 
able  to  apply  to  his  own  afiars.  The  man  who  lives  within 
his  means,  will  in  prosperous  times  pass  through  life  with  as 
great  a  freedom  from  pecuniary  distress,  as  our  imperfect 
nature  admits.  Even  he  may  suffer  from  ill  health  on  his 
own  part  or  that  of  others,  paralyzing  his  activity  or  burden 
ing  his  means,  and  a  general  stagnation  rf  InTsiruv-s  may,  by 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  181 

no  fault  or  imprudence  of  his  own,  fatally  cripple  his  re 
sources.  These  are  misfortunes,  for  which  there  is  no  help. 
They  belong  to  the  imperfections  of  our  social  nature ;  but 
even  these  will  be  resisted  and  sustained  far  more  successfully 
by  the  unembarrassed  man,  than  by  one  already  staggering 
under  a  load  of  debt. 

So  with  reference  to  business,  no  individual,  however  pru 
dent,  can  place  himself  wholly  beyond  the  reach  of  those 
frightful  storms,  that  from  time  to  time  burst  upon  the  trad 
ing  community,  with  the  fury  of  a  typhoon,  sweeping  all  be 
fore  them  to  destruction.  But  even  in  times  like  these,  the 
man  who  has  contented  himself  with  moderate  gains,  has  kept 
his  liabilities  within  his  means,  conducted  his  business  on  a 
substantial  basis,  and  eschewed  gigantic  speculations,  will  be 
most  likely  to  go  through  the  crisis  unscathed ;  and  in  all 
ordinary  cases  be  successful  and  prosperous,  in  life ;  while 
those  who  pursue  the  opposite  course,  strain  their  credit  to 
the  utmost,  and  trade  on  a  capital  for  beyond  their  solid 
property,  besides  leading  a  life  of  splendid  anxiety  and  osten 
tatious  care,  are  the  most  likely  to  be  prostrated  by  the  first 
blast  which  sweeps  over  the  country. 

It  may  be  remarked,  in  conclusion,  that  the  justice  of  the 
foregoing  views,  both  as  to  the  cause  of  the  distress  of  1857 
and  the  only  security  against  the  recurrence  of  a  similar 
calamity,  is  confirmed  by  the  manner  in  which  a  partial  re 
covery  has  been  brought  about.  No  new  branches  of  busi 
ness  have  been  established,  no  new  markets  have  been  opened. 
There  has  been  no  fortunate  change  in  affairs  domestic  or  for 
eign,  for  the  pressure  was  not  caused  by  any  thing  adverse  in 
our  political  condition  at  home  or  abroad.  It  is  not  years  of 
plenty  succeeding  years  of  famine  ;  nor  health  returning  after 
the  visitations  of  pestilence.  The  change  has  been  brought 
about  simply  by  arresting  the  augmentation  of  debt,  relieving 
the  money  market  of  gigantic  borrowers,  looking  desperate 
concerns  in  the  face  and  treating  them  accordingly  ; — in  short, 


182  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

by  settling  up  old  accounts.  Great  sacrifices  have  attended 
the  process  ;  but  they  would  have  been  greater  had  they  been 
longer  delayed.  If  the  country  would  learn  wisdom  by  ex 
perience,  all  would  be  well.  But  in  matters  of  this  kind,  men 
seldom  learn  by  any  experience  but  their  own ;  and  that  is 
apt  to  come  too  late.  They  gain  wisdom  and  nothing  else. 


NUMBEK  TWENTY. 

TRAVELLING    IN    FORMER    TIMES. 

First  visit  to  New  York  by  packet  from  Newport  in  1810— Exodus  from  Dorchester 
to  Connecticut  Eiver  in  1635,  in  fourteen  days— Madam  Knight's  journey  to  New 
York  in  1704 — Extracts — Franklin's  voyage  to  New  York  in  1723 — Abandons 
vegetable  diet  by  the  way — Franklin's  reasons  in  1754  for  recommending  Phila 
delphia  as  the  seat  of  a  provincial  Union — Anecdote  of  General  Adair  and 
General  Root— Eapid  journey  of  Cardinal  Wolsey  from  Richmond  to  Bruges  and 
back — Washington's  first  journey  to  the  Eastern  States  in  1756 — Travelling  by 
stage  coach  fifty  years  ago — "  Waking  up  the  wrong  passenger" — Indifferent 
accommodations  both  for  passengers  and  baggage — Anecdote  of  a  German  travel 
ler — This  mode  of  travelling  sometimes  very  pleasant. 

THE  generation  now  coming  forward  in  life  can  have  but  a 
faint  idea  of  the  change,  which  has  taken  place  within  thirty 
years,  in  the  facilities  of  travelling,  as  we  in  our  turn  proba 
bly  form  an  inadequate  conception  of  the  state  of  things  which 
existed  before  the  establishment  of  stage-coaches.  My  first 
visit  from  Boston  to  New  York  was  made  in  August,  1810, 
in  a  coasting  packet  from  Newport,  and  if  I  mistake  not  we 
were  out  two  nights  and  a  part  of  three  days.  A  second 
visit  was  made  in  December,  1814,  in  a  stage-coach,  and  occu 
pied  three  days  of  very  diligent  and  severe  travel,  and  this 
state  of  things  lasted  several  years  longer. 

Changes  are  made  with  such  rapidity  in  this  country,  that 
a  couple  of  centuries  have  witnessed  results,  which  in  Europe 
have  filled  up  the  whole  period  from  the  dawn  of  civilization. 
When  the  first  settlers  of  the  Connecticut  Eiver  emigrated 
from  Dorchester,  in  Massachusetts,  about  one  hundred  men, 


184:  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

women,  and  children,  they  were  fourteen  days  in  making  the 
distance,  which  is  now  daily  crossed  over  by  the  express  train 
in  three  hours.  This  was  the  first  movement  in  that  great 
march  of  emigration  from  the  coast  to  the  interior,  which  fills 
so  important  a  space  in  the  annals  and  in  the  "  destiny  "  of 
America.  The  history  of  the  country  contains  few  pages  of 
greater  interest,  than  those  which  record  this  first  Exodus  to 
the  American  promised  land.  The  touching  narrative  is  ad 
mirably  given  by  Dr.  Ellis,  in  the  thirteenth  volume  of 
Sparks'  American  Biography. 

Such  as  there  described  were  the  men  and  women,  such 
the  toils  and  hardships,  by  which  this  beautiful  and  prosper 
ous  America,  now  filled  with  its  rapidly  multiplying  millions, 
approached  and  traversed  in  every  direction  by  steam  boat 
and  steam  car,  on  ocean  and  land,  on  river  and  lake,  was  settled 
but  little  more  than  two  centuries  and  a  quarter  since. 

Madam  Sarah  Knight  was  a  heroine  of  a  different  charac 
ter,  and  made  her  journey  from  Boston  to  New  York  on 
horseback  in  October,  1704.  She  was  a  person  of  thrift  and 
went  to  settle  important  affairs  ;  and  as  her  business,  going 
and  coming,  required  her  to  stop  in  several  places,  her  diary 
does  not  enable  us  to  calculate  the  time  which  was  then  abso 
lutely  necessary  for  a  journey  from  New  York  to  Boston,  the 
distance  being  then  estimated  at  two  hundred  and  seventy 
miles.  About  a  fortnight  is  supposed  to  be  the  time  usually 
employed  on  the  journey.  Madam  Knight's  journal,  a  most 
curious  record,  was  first  published  in  New  York  in  1825,  and 
was  reprinted  in  Littell's  Living  Age  for  26  June,  1858.  The 
following  extracts  will  show  the  style  of  travelling  between 
Boston  and  New  York  in  1704 : 

"  In  about  an  how'r,  or  something  more,  after  we  left  the  Swamp,  we 
come  to  Billingses,  where  I  was  to  Lodg.  My  Guide  dismounted  and 
very  Complacently  help't  me  down  and  she\vd  the  door,  signing  to  me 
wth  his  hand  to  Go  in ;  well  I  Gladly  did — But  had  not  gone  many  steps 
into  the  Koom,  ere  I  was  Interrogated  by  a  young  Lady  I  under*? oo  1 


THE    MOUNT    YEliNOX    PAPERS.  185 

afterwards  was  the  Eldest  daughter  of  the  family,  with  these,  or  words  to 
this  purpose  (viz)  Law  for  mee — what  in  the  world  brings  You  here  at 
this  time  a  night  ? — I  never  see  a  woman  on  the  Rode  so  Dreadfull  late 
in  all  the  days  of  my  versall  life.  Who  are  You  ?  Where  are  You  going  ? 
1'me  scared  out  of  my  witts — with  much  more  of  the  same  Kind.  I  stood 
aghast,  Prepareing  to  reply,  when  in  comes  my  Guide — to  him  Madam 
turned,  Roreing  out :  Lawfull  heart,  John,  is  it  You  ? — how  de  do ! 
Where  in  the  world  are  you  going  with  this  woman  ?  Who  is  she  ?  John 
made  no  Ansr.  but  sat  down  in  the  corner,  fumbled  out  his  black  Junk, 
and  saluted  that  instead  of  Debb  ;  she  then  turned  agen  to  mee  and  fell 
anew  into  her  silly  questions,  without  asking  me  to  sitt  down. — I  told  her 
shee  treated  me  very  Rudely,  and  I  did  not  think  it  my  duty  to  answer 
her  unmannerly  Questions.  But  to  get  ridd  of  them,  I  told  her  I 
come  there  to  have  the  post's  company  with  me  to-morrow  on  my 
Journey,  &c. 

I  paid  honest  John  wth  money  and  dram  according  to  contract,  and 
Dismist  him,  and  pray'd  Miss  to  shew  me  where  I  must  Lodg.  Shee  con 
ducted  me  to  a  parlour  in  a  little  back  Lento,  wch  was  almost  n'll'd  wth 
the  bedstead,  wch  was  so  high  that  I  was  forced  to  climb  on  a  chair  to 
gitt  up  to  the  wretched  bed  that  lay  on  it ;  on  wch  having  Stretcht  my 
tired  Limbs,  and  lay'd  my  head  on  a  Sad-coloured  pillow,  I,  began  to  think 
on  the  transactions  of  ye  past  day." 

The  following  was  Madam  Knight's  experience  at  Rye : 

" — Early  next  morning  set  forward  to  ISTorrowalk,  from  its  halfe  Indian 
name  North-walk,  where  about  12  at  noon  we  arrived,  and  Had  a  Dinner 
of  Fryed  vension,  very  savoury.  Landlady  wanting  some  pepper  in  the 
seasoning,  bid  the  Girl  hand  her  the  spice  in  the  little  Gay  cupp  on  ye 
shelfe.  From  Hence  we  Hasted  towards  Rye,  walking  and  leading  our 
Horses  neer  a  mile  together,  up  a  prodigies  high  Hill ;  and  so  Riding  till 
about  nine  at  night,  and  there  arrived  and  took  up  our  Lodgings  at  an 
ordinary,  wch  a  French  family  kept.  Here  being  very  hungry,  I  desired 
a  fricasee,  wch  the  Frenchman  undertakeing,  mannaged  so  contrary  to 
my  notion  of  Cookery,  that  I  hastened  to  Bed  superlcss ;  And  being 
shewd  the  way  up  a  pair  of  stairs  wch  had  such  a  narrow  passage  that  I 
had  almost  stopt  by  the  Bulk  of  my  Body  ;  But  arriving  at  my  apartment 
found  it  to  be  a  little  Lento  Chamber  furnisht  amongst  other  Rubbish  with 
a  High  Bedd  and  a  Low  one,  a  Long  Table,  a  Bench  and  a  Bottomless 
Chair, — Little  Miss  went  to  scratch  up  my  Kennell  wch  Russelled  as 
if  shee'd  bin  in  the  Barn  amongst  the  Husks,  and  suppose  such  was 
the  contents  of  the  tickin — nevertheless  being  exceeding  weary,  down 


186  THE  MOUNT  VERXON  PAPERS. 

I  laid  my  poor  Carkes  (never  more  tired)  and  found  my  Covering  as 
scanty  as  my  Bed  was  hard.  Annon  I  heard  another  Russelling  noise 
in  ye  Room — called  to  know  the  matter — Little  miss  said  slice  was  mak 
ing  a  bed  for  the  men  ;  who,  when  they  were  in  Bed,  complained  their 
leggs  lay  out  of  it  by  reason  of  its  shortness — my  poor  bones  complained 
bitterly  not  being  used  to  such  Lodgings,  and  so  did  the  man  who 
was  with  us  ;  and  poor  I  made  but  one  Grone,  which  was  from  the  time 
I  Avent  to  bed  to  the  time  I  Kiss,  which  was  about  three  in  the  morning, 
Setting  up  by  the  Fire  till  Light,  and  having  discharged  our  ordinary  well 
was  as  dear  as  if  we  had  had  far  Better  fare — wee  took  our  leave  of 
Monsier  and  about  seven  in  the  morn  come  to  New  Rochell  a  frenchtown, 
where  we  had  a  good  Breakfast." 

New  York  at  that  time  contained  about  four  thousand  in 
habitants.  Madam  Knight's  description  of  her  residence  there, 
of  the  style  of  building,  and  the  manners  and  customs  of  the 
People  is  extremely  curious  ;  but  we  have  no  room  for  further 
extracts. 

Benjamin  Franklin  made  his  runaway  journey  to  New 
York  by  water  in  1723.  He  had  a  favorable  wind  most  of 
the  time,  and  was  three  days  on  the  water.  An  incident 
occurred  on  the  way,  which  induced  him, —  a  youth  of  seven 
teen,  to  abandon  an  exclusively  vegetable  diet,  which  he  had 
some  time  before  adopted,  on  the  recommendation  of  an  author 
named  Tryon.  They  were  beclamed  off  Block  Island  and  the 
crew  employed  themselves  in  catching  Cod  of  which  they 
"  hauled  up  a  great  number."  Till  then  he  "  had  stuck  to  the 
resolution  of  eating  nothing  that  had  had  life."  Following  the 
doctrine  of  Tryon,  he  considered  "  the  taking  of  every  fish 
a  kind  of  unprovoked  murder,"  since  none  of  them  had  been  or 
could  be  guilty  of  any  injury,  "  that  might  justify  the  mas 
sacre."  He  had,  however,  unfortunately  for  the  Tryonic 
theory  and  Benjamin's  practice  under  it,  been  formerly  a  great 
lover  of  fish.  It  is  the  weak  side  of  people,  especially  of 
hungry  apprentices,  in  a  certain  part  of  the  country  that  shall 
be  nameless.  "  When  it  came  from  the  frying-pan,"  says 
young  Benjamin,  "  it  smelt  remarkably  well."  What  was  the 


THE   MOUNT   VERNON    PAPE11S.  1ST 

dead  letter  of  Tryon's  treatise,  compared  with  a  treat  like 
that  ?  "  I  balanced  for  some  time  between  principle  and  incli 
nation,  till,  recollecting  that  when  the  fish  were  opened  I  saw 
smaller  fish  taken  out  of  their  stomachs,  then  thought  I,  '  if 
you  eat  one  another,  I  don't  see  why  we  may  not  eat  you,'  so 
I  dined  upon  Cod  very  heartily." 

In  1754  a  convention  was  held  at  Albany  to  concert  a  plan 
of  Union  between  the  Colonies.  In  the  articles  adopted  by 
this  convention,  it  was  recommended  that  Philadelphia  should 
be  the  place  where  the  first  meeting  for  the  proposed  Assem 
bly  should  be  held.  The  reasons  for  the  various  provisions 
embraced  in  his  plan  were  stated  in  a  memoir  drawn  up  by 
Dr.  Franklin.  The  statement  of  the  grounds  for  selecting 
Philadelphia  throws  considerable  light  on  the  facilities  for 
travel  at  that  time.  It  is  as  follows  : 

"  Philadelphia  was  named  as  being  nearer  the  centre  of  the  colonies, 
where  the  commissioners  would  be  well  &  cheaply  accommodated.  The 
high  roads  through  the  whole  extent  are  for  the  most  part  very  good,  on 
which  forty  or  fifty  miles  a  day  may  very  well  be,  and  frequently  are, 
travelled.  Great  part  of  the  way  may  likewise  be  gone  by  water.  In 
summer  time  the  passages  are  frequently  performed  in  a  week  from 
Charleston  to  Philadelphia  and  New  York  ;  and  from  Rhode  Island  to 
New  York  through  the  Sound,  in  two  or  three  days  ;  and  from  New  York 
to  Philadelphia,  by  water  and  land,  in  two  days,  by  stage-boats  and 
wheel  carriages,  that  set  out  every  other  day.  The  journey  from  Charles 
ton  to  Philadelphia  may  likewise  be  facilitated  by  boats  running  up 
Chesapeake  Bay,  three  hundred  miles.  But  if  the  whole  journey  be  per 
formed  on  horseback,  the  most  distant  members,  vizt.  the  two  from  New 
Hampshire  and  from  South  Carolina,  may  probably  render  themselves  at 
Philadelphia  in  fifteen  or  twenty  days ; — the  majority  may  be  there  in 
much  less  time." 

This  primitive  mode  of  travelling  by  horseback  has,  within 
my  recollection,  had  its  advocates,  and  that  on  the  score  of 
rapidity.  Much  amusement  was  caused  at  Washington  by  a 
friendly  argument  between  Gen.  Adair  of  Kentucky  and  Gen. 
Root  of  New  York,  on  the  comparative  advantages  of  travel- 


188  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

ling  on  horseback  and  in  stage-coaches,  on  the  score  of  safety 
and  speed,  Gen.  Adair  declaring  for  the  saddle.  They  started 
each  for  his  home  and  by  the  conveyance  which  he  preferred. 
Gen.  Adair  made  the  journey  in  safety  on  horseback  and  re 
turned  to  Washington  the  same  way  the  next  December ; 
while  Gen.  Root,  travelling  in  a  stage-coach,  was  overturned 
and  suffered  a  severe  injury  which  detained  him  on  the  road 
for  the  greater  part,  if  not  the  whole,  of  the  interval  between 
the  long  and  short  sessions. 

Notwithstanding  the  great  superiority  of  the  means  of  con 
veyance  at  the  present  day,  a  journey  was  sometimes  made  in 
old  times  with  prodigious  speed.  Cardinal  Wolsey  owed  his 
first  advancement,  in  no  small  degree,  to  the  rapidity  with 
which  he  made  the  journey  from  London  to  Bruges  in  Flan 
ders  and  back  again,  on  an  important  mission  to  the  Emperor 
of  Germany,  confided  to  him  by  Henry  the  Seventh.  Having 
received  his  despatches  from  the  King  at  Richmond,  he  arrived 
in  London  at  four  o'clock  on  Sunday  afternoon,  in  season  for 
the  Gravesend  barge,  by  wrhich  he  reached  that  place  in  about 
three  hours.  The  distance  is  about  thirty  miles  by  land  as 
the  river  winds ;  he  must  have  been  strongly  favored  by  wind 
and  tide.  There  he  took  post-horses,  and,  travelling  all  night, 
reached  Dover,  about  forty-five  miles,  on  Monday  morning, 
just  as  the  packet  was  ready  to  sail.  In  less  than  three  hours 
he  was  at  Calais,  and  immediately  starting  with  post-horses  for 
Bruges,  distant  sixty  or  seventy  miles,  the  residence  at  that 
time  of  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  he  arrived  there  the  same 
night.  Wolsey  was  immediately  admitted  to  audience  by  the 
Emperor,  and  having  despatched  his  business  successfully  was 
sent  back  to  Calais  by  the  Emperor  the  next  day,  under  an 
escort  of  horse.  He  arrived  at  Calais  as  the  gates  of  the  city 
were  opening  Wednesday  morning ;  stepped  on  board  the 
packet  just  ready  to  sail  and  reached  Dover  at  ten.  Post- 
horses  were  in  readiness,  which  conveyed  him  to  Richmond,  a 
distance  of  seventy  miles,  that  night,  after  an  absence  of  a  little 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  189 

more  than  three  days.  Having  taken  some  repose,  he  appear 
ed  before  the  king,  as  he  was  going  from  his  bed-room  to 
mass  on  Thursday  morning.  The  king  at  first,  supposing  that 
he  had  not  yet  started  on  his  mission,  chided  him  for  his  delay. 
He  was  astonished  at  finding  that  he  had  been  to  Bruges  and 
returned.  The  king  next  inquired  if  he  had  fallen  in  with  a 
courier  despatched  the  day  before  with  additional  instructions, 
relative  to  a  matter  which  had  been  overlooked.  Wolsey 
had  met  him  on  his  own  return,  but  having  himself  perceived 
the  omission  in  his  instructions,  had  "  been  so  bold  "  (said  he) 
"  in  mine  own  discretion,  perceiving  that  matter  to  be  very 
necessary,  to  despatch  the  same  !  "  Hume  erroneously  gives 
Bruxelles  instead  of  Bruges  as  the  residence  of  the  Emperor. 
General  Washington  on  his  first  visit  to  the  Eastern  States 
in  1756,  travelled  on  horseback,  starting  from  New  York  on 
February  the  20th.  It  is  not  precisely  known,  I  believe,  how 
long  he  was  on  the  way,  probably  a  week.  It  appears  from 
Hempstead's  journal  cited  in  Miss  Caulkin's  excellent  history 
of  New  London,  that  he  passed  through  that  place,  both  going 
and  coming. 

"  March  8th.  Colonel  Washington  is  returned  from  Boston  and  gone 
to  Long  Island  in  Powers'  Sloop ;  he  had  also  two  boats  to  carry  six  horses 
and  his  retinue,  all  bound  to  Virginia." 

The  journey  to  New  York  from  Boston  by  stage-coach, 
and  this  too  after  that  mode  of  conveyance  was  brought  to  a 
very  considerable  state  of  perfection,  was  in  my  youth,  in  the 
winter  season  at  least,  an  affair  of  three  days.  It  was  two 
days  from  New  York  to  Philadelphia,  and  two  from  Phila 
delphia  to  Baltimore,  by  the  way  of  Columbia.  From  Balti 
more  to  Washington  in  1814  was  a  pretty  hard  day's  travel 
and  the  weariness  and  discomfort  of  the  journey  were  quite 
as  formidable  as  the  length  of  time  required  for  its  perform 
ance. 

If  my  recollection  serves  me,  a  single  daily  stage-coach 


190  THE    MOUNT   VEKBTON   PAPEKS. 

carrying  the  mail,  plied  regularly  at  this  time,  1814,  between 
Boston  and  New  York.  It  purported  to  start  at  about  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning  ;  to  sleep  at  Ashford  the  first  night,  and 
at  New  Haven  the  second,  and  arrive  at  New  York  on  the 
evening  of  the  third  day.  As  there  was  generally  rather  more 
travel  than  one  coach  could  accommodate,  though  not  otten 
enough  for  an  extra  carriage,  it  was  necessary  to  engage  your 
place  two  or  three  days  beforehand.  An  hour  or  more  be 
fore  the  time  nominally  appointed  for  starting,  a  messenger 
came  around  from  the  stage-office  to  "  wake  up  the  passen 
gers."  The  old-fashioned  brass  knockers  had  not  wholly  dis 
appeared  at  that  time,  so  that  the  benefit  of  the  operation, 
when  the  person  to  be  aroused  did  not  "  wake  easy,"  was 
sometimes  extended  to  the  neighbors.  Occasionally  a  mis 
take  would  be  made  in  the  street  number  of  the  house,  and 
expostulations  of  an  animated  kind  would  ensue  between  the 
messenger  and  the  wrongly  waked  person,  drowsily  inquiring 
from  his  open  chamber  window,  of  a  freezing  wintry  night, 
as  to  the  precise  object  of  the  visitation.  Hence  the  expressive 
proverb  of  "  waking  up  the  wrong  passenger."  As  the  mes 
senger  had  often  an  extensive  circuit  to  make  round  the  town, 
those  who  stood  first  on  his  list,  were  sometimes  called  an 
hour  and  a  half  or  two  hours  before  the  time  ;  which  gave 
them  the  advantage  of  getting  thoroughly  waked  up. 

At  length  came  the  vehicle  rattling  along,  a  four-horse 
coach,  containing  three  seats  inside  and  places  for  two  beside 
the  driver,  which  fell  to  the  lot  in  cold  weather  of  the  last 
applicants ;  in  summer  they  were  the  places  of  preference. 
Seats  on  the  top  of  the  carriage,  like  those  in  use  at  the  pres 
ent  time,  were  not  then  known.  Each  of  the  three  seats  inside 
was  supposed  to  accommodate  three  persons  of  whatever  size 
or  weight,  small  children  being  thrown  into  the  bargain  and  be 
stowed  on  the  knees  of  the  adult  passengers ; — an  arrangement 
which  became  a  superior  test  of  patience  and  good  nature,  be 
fore  the  long  and  WQary  day  was  over,  especially  if  the  child, 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS.  191 

besides  not  being  your  own,  was  troubled  with  a  catarrhal 
affection  or  the  whooping  cough.  The  middle  seat  when  I  first 
began  to  travel  had  no  strap  or  other  support  to  the  back. 
When  that  improvement  was  first  introduced  it  was  regarded 
as  one  of  the  great  discoveries  of  the  age.  The  baggage  was 
not  suspended  with  the  body  of  the  vehicle  on  springs,  but  it 
was  placed  on  a  frame-work  extending  backward  from  the 
hindmost  axle,  where  it  partook,  without  any  mitigation,  the 
concussion  of  the  carriage.  The  consequence  was  that,  unless 
your  trunks  were  packed  with  great  skill  and  their  contents 
tightly  strapped  inside,  your  garments  of  every  kind  were 
nearly  ruined  by  a  journey  of  two  or  three  days. 

I  remember  to  have  witnessed  a  sad  but  not  unamusing 
spectacle  caused  by  the  neglect  of  proper  precautions  in  this 
respect,  on  the  part  of  an  inexperienced  German  traveller  in 
Pennsylvania.  He  was  returning  from  Philadelphia,  with  a 
moderate-sized  portmanteau  of  which  the  contents  had  been 
very  loosely  bestowed.  With  a  few  articles  of  clothing,  which 
seemed  to  be  principally  shirts  and  stockings,  he  had  placed  in 
his  trunk  a  quire  of  printed  music  paper,  a  quantity  of  hard 
biscuit,  a  dozen  of  oranges,  and  a  bag  of  silver  dollars.  The 
specie  had  broken  from  its  place  of  deposit  and  had  circulated 
freely,  in  every  direction,  through  the  trunk  and  the  music 
paper,  the  oranges,  and  the  biscuits,  (like  some  chemical  sub 
stances  very  different  in  nature  while  separate,  but  brought  into 
intimate  union  by  the  intervention  of  a  new  element,)  had,  by 
the  action  of  the  dollars,  been  compounded  into  a  mass, — not  to 
say  mess, — in  which  it  was  difficult  to  trace  the  slightest  resem 
blance  to  either  ingredient.  The  appearance  of  things  when 
the  trunk  was  opened,  and  the  wobegone  looks  of  its  proprie 
tor,  might  have  furnished  a  plausible  argument  for  preferring 
a  convertible  paper  currency  to  hard  coin, — at  least  for  trav 
ellers  in  a  stage-coach. 

It  was  a  matter  of  some  moment  to  see  your  baggage 
securely  strapped  on  at  the  outset,  and  as  the  coach  was  usually 


192  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

changed  two  or  three  times  in  the  course  of  the  day,  it  was 
necessary,  whenever  this  was  done,  to  exercise  a  little  super 
vision  over  the  process,  and  to  see  that  light  articles,  such  as 
valises  and  umbrellas  and  bandboxes,  (these  last  regarded  with 
unqualified  horror  by  the  male  travellers,)  carried  in  the 
interior  of  the  coach,  were  removed  at  each  exchange  of  vehi 
cles.  It  was  generally  understood  that  the  first  applicant  had 
the  choice  of  seats,  qualified  however,  in  all  cases,  by  the 
claim  of  the  gentler  sex  to  the  best  accommodations.  There 
was  room  also  for  the  display  of  courtesy  and  the  want  of  it, 
in  occasionally  relieving,  by  an  exchange  of  positions,  your  un 
fortunate  fellow  passenger,  who  was  swaying  all  day  long  on 
the  middle  seat,  without  support  to  his  back. 

When  the  coach  was  crowded  with  unsociable  and  taciturn 
passengers,  its  floor  encumbered  with  bags  and  other  small 
articles  greatly  encroaching  upon  the  space  for  extending  the 
legs,  the  weather  a  drizzling  mixture  of  rain  and  snow,  the 
roads  rough,  the  drivers  surly  and  the  beasts  jaded,  one  arrived 
at  the  journey's  end  late  at  night,  in  a  condition  which  a  vic 
tim  of  the  rack  would  scarcely  have  envied.  But  with  a 
moderately  filled  vehicle, — a  good  natured,  and,  still  more,  a 
congenial  circle  of  fellow  passengers,  a  light,  elastic  air,  a 
December  sun  gleaming  over  sparkling  fields,  a  road  like 
marble,  a  succession  of  spanking  teams  with  drivers  as  fear 
less  as  skilful,  who  generally  went  down  hill  at  full  gallop, — 
the  breakfast  and  dinner  table  plainly  but  bountifully  and 
wholesomely  served  by  active  and  tidy  hands,  at  those  nice 
old  country  taverns,  which  have  almost  wholly  ceased  to  exist ; 
— under  these  circumstances,  a  journey  in  the  stage-coach  was 
a  positive  enjoyment.  After  a  lapse  of  forty  years  I  recall  a 
journey  like  this,  in  company  with  Daniel  Webster  and  Judge 
Story,  as  having  afforded  some  of  the  happiest,  the  most 
instructive,  and  most  joyous  hours  of  my  life. 


NIJHBEK    TWENTY-ONE. 

TRAVEL  IN  EUROPE. 

No  Railroads  or  Steamers  in  Europe  in  1818— Fulton's  first  passage  to  Albany- 
Stage-coaches,  posting,  and  vetturino  in  Europe— Travelling  on  foot  and  on 
horseback — The  ancient  Koman  roads  almost  wholly  lost — Visit  to  the  Conti 
nent  in  1818— Guide  books— Hon.  T.  II.  Perkins  and  tribute  to  him  by  John 
Quincy  Adams — Stone  Henge— Wilton  House— Old  Sarum — Salisbury  Cathedral — 
Passage  from  Southampton  to  Havre— Freedom  from  care  at  sea — Transition 
from  England  to  France  and  points  of  contrast— French  custom-house — Anecdote 
of  a  dyspeptic  Bostonian. 

IN  the  last  number  I  alluded  to  the  great  facilities  for 
travelling  at  the  present  day  in  America,  compared  with  the 
state  of  things  in  former  times.  The  difference  is  as  great  in 
Europe  as  in  the  United  States,  although,  in  reference  to  the 
practical  arts,  an  old  country  might  be  expected  to  be  far  in 
advance  of  one  so  recently  settled  as  the  United  States.  In 
1818  there  was  not  a  Railroad  in  Europe,  with  the  exception 
of  the  tram  roads  used  in  connection  with  the  coal  mines,  nor 
was  there,  if  my  memory  serves  me,  on  any  of  its  waters,  salt 
or  fresh,  such  a  thing  as  a  steam  vessel  of  any  dimensions, 
with  the  exception  of  a  small  steamer  on  the  river  Clyde. 
Eight  years  before  that  time,  the  passage  from  New  York  to 
Amboy  was  regularly  made  in  a  steamer,  and  more  than  ten 
years  before,  Fulton  had  made  his  memorable  voyage  from 
New  York  to  Albany  in  the  same  way  ; — a  slow  and  tedious 
passage,  but  an  era  in  human  affairs  ; — the  most  important 
ever  made  since  the  voyage  of  Columbus. 

In  England  forty  years  ago,  persons,  who  did  not  use  their 
9 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

own  carriages  and  horses,  travelled  in  the  stage-coach,  (a 
remarkably  compact  and  expeditious  vehicle,  usually  making 
ten  miles  an  hour,  carrying  from  four  to  six  inside,  and  from 
eight  to  twelve  on  the  top ;)  or  posted,  that  is,  made  use  of 
their  own  carriages  and  took  post-horses,  one  of  which  is  rid 
den  by  a  postilion,  at  convenient  stations,  where  also  post- 
carriages  might  be  found,  for  those  who  did  not  make  use  of 
their  own  ;  a  much  more  expensive,  but  otherwise  far  prefer 
able  mode  of  travelling,  as  it  took  you  over  roads  not  trav 
ersed  by  stage-coaches,  and  enabled  you  to  choose  your  own 
hours.  When  three  travelled  in  company  and  divided  the 
expense,  it  did  not  exceed  that  of  the  stage-coach.  In  France 
you  had  the  stage-coach  under  the  name  of  the  Diligence,  (a 
name  rather  ominous  of  the  rate  of  speed,)  and  a  system  of 
posting  analogous,  as  far  as  the  supply  of  horses  was  con 
cerned,  to  the  English.  Both  these  modes  of  travelling  were 
also  found  substantially  in  most  other  countries  of  Continental 
Europe. 

A  third  mode  of  travelling  a  good  deal  resorted  to  by  per 
sons  not  pressed  for  time  and  studying  economy,  was  by  what 
is  called  vetturino.  It  is  not  yet  wholly  obsolete,  though  like 
stage-coaches  and  post-horses  nearly  susperseded  by  railroads. 
The  vetturino  conveyed  you  by  contract  with  the  same  car 
riage,  horses,  and  driver,  for  the  whole  of  the  proposed  jour 
ney  and  for  a  stipulated  price.  For  persons  who  travel,  not 
to  kill  time  but  to  employ  it  usefully ;  to  see  a  country,  not 
merely  to  be  able  to  say  they  have  seen  it ;  to  visit  a  city  and 
examine  its  objects  of  interest,  not  "  to  do"  a  city,  this  mode 
of  travelling  has  its  advantages. 

Two  other  modes  of  travelling  were  resorted  to  in  Europe 
forty  years  ago,  not  yet  nor  likely  to  be  ever  wholly  disused, 
with  the  results  of  which,  on  one  or  two  occasions,  I  shall  en 
deavor  to  make  the  reader  who  knows  locomotion  only  as  it 
exists  in  the  railroad  train,  better  acquainted.  There  are 
parts  of  the  old  world  of  the  highest  interest  to  the  intelligent 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS.  195 

tourist,  which  he  can  explore  only  on  foot.  If  he  would  enjoy 
any  thing  but  the  mere  music  of  the  verses  in  the  poetry  of 
Scott,  (and  that  I  must  admit  is  an  exquisite  enjoyment,)  he 
must  visit  the  scenery  of  the  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel  and  the 
Lady  of  the  Lake  on  foot.  Sophia  Scott  told  me  that  she 
once  did  this  with  her  father  in  a  drenching  rain,  which  he 
persisted  in  calling  "  a  Scotch  mist."  Much  of  Wales  and 
the  Lake  region  of  Westmoreland  and  Cumberland  can  be 
seen  to  advantage, — or  rather  seen  at  all, — in  no  other  way. 
When  Wordsworth  protested  against  allowing  the  district  of 
country,  which  he  so  much  venerated,  from  being  invaded  by 
railroads,  he  did  not  reflect  that  no  railroad  would  ever  pen 
etrate  their  lovely  and  sacred  retreats.  The  only  effect  of 
their  construction  would  be  to  take  the  place  of  the  stage 
coach  and  the  post-carriage,  along  one  or  two  principal  lines 
of  travel,  and  thus  multiply  a  hundred  fold  the  numbers  who 
would  come  to  worship  with  him  at  the  shrine  of  that  Nature, 
which  he  feared  to  desecrate.  So,  too,  the  weird  recesses  of  the 
Harz  Mountains,  the  secluded  valleys,  the  bewitched  heights, 
the  solemn  caves,  the  dreary  dripping  mines,  the  ruined  cas 
tles,  moss-grown  with  the  legends  of  eight  centuries,  can  be 
approached  only  on  foot.  Last  of  all  the  imperial  Alps  admit 
of  none  but  the  pedestrian  to  their  crystal  halls.  As  you 
approach  their  glittering  battlements, — the  inmost  citadel  of 
nature's  glory  and  power, — lazy  affluence  must  fain  alight 
from  her  chariot,  the  arm  of  the  engineer  is  palsied,  and  the 
grim  necromancer  of  steam  admits  the  presence  of  a  Force 
mightier  than  his  own. 

As  soon  as  you  leave  Europe  for  the  East,  (in  fact,  in  many 
parts  of  Europe,)  vehicles  of  every  kind  are  unknown,  and 
you  travel  on  horseback,  on  camels,  and  in  the  further  East 
on  elephants.  In  my  time,  there  were  no  vehicles  for  trav 
ellers  in  the  lower  part  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  We  had 
to  travel  for  four  days  on  horseback  in  districts  which,  in 
the  time  of  the  Romans,  were  traversed  by  the  Appian  way, 


196  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

the  Regina  viarum,  (the  queen  of  High  ways,)  and  which 
now  in  this  respect  are  as  completely  in  a  state  of  nature,  as 
the  central  plateau  of  our  continent.  In  the  year  1819  the 
facilities  for  reaching  Tarento  were  no  greater  than  they  were 
in  the  time  of  Pythagoras.  The  same  was  the  case  through 
out  Epirus,  Thessaly,  Macedonia,  Thrace,  and  the  whole 
of  Greece  proper,  where  the  great  paved  roads  of  antiq 
uity  had  entirely  disappeared,  vehicles  of  every  kind  were 
unknown,  and  there  was  no  communication  but  by  bridle 
paths  in  any  part  of  the  countries  named.  Few  things  testify 
more  loudly  and  sadly  to  the  desolation  of  those  once  pros 
perous  regions,  and  the  barbarism  of  the  Turkish  rule.  The 
Romans  pushed  their  military  roads  to  the  very  limits  of  their 
empire.  The  Appian  way,  paved  with  blocks  of  granite, 
gneiss,  or  lava  fourteen  inches  thick,  was  carried  through 
Epirus  and  Thessaly  ;  but  its  very  route,  except  by  conjecture, 
is  lost.  No  trace  of  it,  if  I  remember  aright,  east  of  the 
Adriatic,  is  to  be  seen  on  the  surface  of  the  ground.  Ages 
of  civilization  may  exist  without  producing  roads  like  the 
Appian  way,  but  once  produced  one  hardly  knows  how  they 
can  be  made,  or  allowed,  wholly  to  disappear.  In  Italy  itself 
this  great  road,  in  common  with  all  the  other  great  military 
roads  of  the  Romans,  has  almost  wrholly  vanished.  It  forms 
if  I  mistake  not,  the  foundation  of  the  modern  road,  only 
across  the  Pontine  marshes. 

In  August  1818,  after  five  delightful  months  in  England 
and  Scotland,  divided  principally  between  London,  Cambridge, 
Oxford,  Wales,  the  Lake  region,  Edinburgh,  and  the  high 
lands  of  Perthshire,  I  left  London  for  the  continent,  with  scarce 
any  object  in  view  but  to  reach  Italy  and  more  especially 
Rome,  as  expeditiously  as  possible.  Goethe  I  think  quotes 
a  remark  of  Lessing,  that  when  you  are  going  to  Rome,  you 
should  be  tied  up  in  a  sack  on  crossing  the  frontier  of  Italy, 
and  not  be  taken  out  of  it  till  you  reach  the  eternal  city.  I 
began  to  practice  on  the  spirit  of  this  rule  from  the  time  I  left 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  197 

London,  hurrying  rapidly  through  regions  of  which  almost 
every  league  has  its  memorable  historical  event,  its  ancient 
tradition  or  monument,  its  venerable  ruin,  its  beautiful  land 
scape,  its  remarkable  collection  of  works  of  art,  its  important 
industrial,  benevolent,  or  literary  establishment.  These  are 
objects  of  curiosity  and  interest,  which,  under  all  circum 
stances,  one  must  take  more  or  less  from  the  guide  books ; 
and  if  in  a  few  important  localities  we  linger  on  the  spot, — 
observe  more  carefully  and  describe  more  fully  and  accurately 
in  our  letters  or  journals, — we  generally  find  in  the  works  of 
professed  tourists,  who  travel  for  the  avowed  purpose  of 
making  a  book,  a  minute  and  elaborate  description  which 
puts  our  hasty  memoranda  to  shame ;  although  the  germ  of 
these  elaborate  descriptions  is  not  seldom  itself  to  be  found 
in  the  friendly  Reichard,  or,  in  these  modern  days,  the  not  less 
friendly  Murray. 

I  took  the  stage-coach  to  Southampton,  avoiding  the  beaten 
road  by  Dover  and  Calais,  in  order  to  see  a  part  both  of  Eng 
land  and  France,  which  I  had  not  before  seen.  At  Southamp 
ton,  I  found  my  honored  friend  Col.  Thomas  IT.  Perkins,  of 
Boston, — the  friend  of  more  than  forty  years,  to  whom  I 
delight  to  pay  this  passing  tribute.  President  John  Quincy 
Adams  said  of  him,  in  my  hearing,  in  the  House  of  Represent 
atives  of  the  United  States,  that  "  he  had  the  fortune  of  a 
prince,  and  a  heart  as  much  above  his  fortune,  as  that  was 
above  a  beggar's."  On  meeting  me  at  Southampton,  he  said, 
"  Come  let  us  pass  a  little  time  together.  I  visited  a  part  of 
this  very  neighborhood  with  your  brother,  (the  late  Alexander 
H.  Everett,)  seven  or  eight  years  ago,  and  nearly  thirty 
years  ago  I  travelled  with  your  father  from  Boston  to  Phila 
delphia, — a  great  journey  in  those  days." 

Accordingly  we  went  together  to  the  objects  of  interest  in 
the  neighborhood,  and  scarce  anywhere  are  they  more  nu 
merous  or  important.  Within  a  moderate  distance  from  each 
other,  you  may  contemplate  the  monumental  records  of 


198  TIIE   MOUNT   VEEBTON    PAPEES. 

almost  every  stage  of  ancient  and  modern  civilization  ; — Stone 
Henge,  Old  Sarum,  Salisbury  Cathedral,  Wilton  House, — 
memorials  of  almost  every  period  and  form  of  human  culture. 
Stone  Henge  is  the  most  imposing  relic  of  that  ancient  Dru- 
idical  period  of  which  we  know  next  to  nothing  historically, 
beyond  a  few  sentences  in  Strabo,  Caesar,  and  Tacitus.  Caesar 
thinks  the  Druids  were  acquainted  with  letters,  but  it  is  prob 
able  that  the  knowledge  of  writing  among  them  was  confined 
to  Greeks,  who  had  fled  from  home  and  taken  refuge  in  these 
remote  and  (as  the  Greeks  deemed  them)  barbarous  races. 
But  if  the  Druids,  the  dominant  caste  of  the  primitive  Celtic 
races,  were  unacquainted  with  the  great  instrument  of  civiliza 
tion,  it  is  the  more  extraordinary  that  they  possessed  the 
knowledge  of  mechanics,  required  for  such  a  structure  as 
Stone  Henge.  Inigo  Jones  says  that,  "  by  the  grace  of  God," 
he  could  raise  stones  as  great  or  greater  to  their  places,  which 
is  no  doubt  true.  With  the  resources  of  modern  art  much 
greater  feats  of  engineering  are  daily  performed.  But  the 
Druidieal  architects  not  only  wanted  our  modern  mechanical 
powers,  but  could  have  hardly  had  the  aid  of  that  other  potent 
assistance,  (alluded  to  by  Inigo  Jones,)  in  rearing  the  temple 
for  their  sanguinary  rites.  The  galleries  of  Wilton, — kindly 
opened  to  our  inspection, — contain  valuable  specimens  of 
Grecian  art,  and  some  paintings  of  the  great  modern  masters. 
Old  Sarum  is  now  a  wheat  field ;  before  Lord  Grey's  reform 
bill,  it  sent  two  members  to  parliament,  who  were  nominated 
by  the  proprietor  of  the  said  wheat  field,  whoever  he  might 
be  ;  Manchester  in  the  mean  time,  with  a  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  inhabitants,  sending  no  member.  This  certainly 
was  a  stupendous  departure  from  the  principle  of  geographical 
representation,  on  which  our  legislatures  are  constituted.  But 
it  would  be  a  mistake  to  say  that  in  a  system  like  the  English, 
constructed  not  on  theory  but  on  tradition,  the  members  from 
Old  Sarum  represented  nothing  but  the  wheat  field.  They 
represented  the  bull-dog  tenacity  with  which  the  Anglo-Saxon 


THE    MOUNT    VEKNCXtf   PAPERS.  199 

clings  to  his  legal  traditions,  after  they  have  become  legal  fic 
tions,  and  thus  converts  them  back  into  realities,  making  tem 
per  do  the  work  of  logic.  They  represented  the  whole  of 
that  old  parliament  which  once  sat  (I  forget  when)  at  Old 
Sarum.  They  represented  by-gone  centuries,  gradually  strug 
gling  toward  our  modern  constitutional  ideas.  They  repre 
sented  York  and  Lancaster,  Plantagenet  and  Tudor, — in  a 
word,  the  great,  solemn,  monumental  past.  Then  there  is,  in 
this  region,  Salisbury  Cathedral,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of 
those  magnificent  mediesval  piles,  in  which  so  much  of  the 
devotion,  the  art,  and  the  social  vitality  of  four  centuries  of 
modern  history  are  embodied.  We  call  the  ages,  which  pro 
duced  the  earlier  forms  of  this  mysterious  architecture,  "  the 
dark  ages  ; "  and  dark  in  some  things  they  were.  But  with 
respect  to  art,  this  arrogance  would  be  more  excusable,  if, 
instead  of  the  portentous  abortions  of  modern  public  archi 
tecture,  we  produced  any  thing  which  can  for  a  moment  com 
pare  with  the  cathedrals  of  "  the  dark  ages  "  for  purity  of  con 
ception,  sublimity  of  thought,  unity  of  design,  richness  and 
tastefulness  of  decoration,  or  even  mechanical  execution. 

We  had  a  fine  sail  from  Southampton  to  Havre.  The  dis 
tance  is  one  hundred  and  ten  miles,  but  we  made  it  in  less 
time  than  it  took  in  the  Spring,  to  cross  from  Calais  to  Dover. 
A  lovely  August  night,  fresh  smells  from  either  coast  health 
fully  borne  on  the  salt  sea-breeze,  the  heavens  blazing  with 
their  eternal  watch-fires  to  their  uttermost  depths  ;  a  smooth 
summer  sea,  slightly  ruffled  by  a  favorable  wind ; — an  encir 
cling  universe  of  glory,  loveliness,  and  mute  praise !  A  short 
sea-voyage,  when  you  are  free  from  sickness,  and  at  a  pleasant 
season  of  the  year,  is  beyond  all  question  the  occasion,  on 
which  the  pulses  of  animal  life  beat  with  the  greatest  firmness 
and  elasticity.  The  exquisite  purity  of  the  air  carries  health 
ful  excitement  to  the  inmost  fibre  of  the  lungs  ;  the  ordinary 
cares  of  terra  firma  (Horace  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding) 
do  not  follow  you  on  shipboard.  There  is  no  door  bell  at 


200  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

sea ;  there  is  no  mail  at  sea.  The  pathways  of  the  sea  are 
not  paved  with  deafening  blocks  of  granite.  There  are  no  news 
at  sea  ;  no  public  meetings,  nor  committee  meetings,  nor 
orations  ;  the  Columbian  Semi-weekly  Musquito  &  Hemisphere 
is  not  published  at  sea  ;  there  is  nothing  but  the  sky  above,  the 
ocean  around  and  beneath,  now  and  then  a  dancing  vessel  in 
sight,  and  the  winds  of  heaven, — the  pure  bracing  winds, — 
speeding  you  on  your  way.  The  Halcyons  brood  on  the  sea. 

Favorable  winds  sped  us  on  our  little  voyage.  We  sailed 
after  sunset  and  arrived  at  Havre  at  sunrise.  One  night  had 
carried  us  from  England  to  France ;  from  the  Teuton  to  the 
Celt ;  from  a  language  of  Saxon  origin  to  one  of  Latin  origin ; 
from  the  common  law  to  the  civil  law ;  from  Protestanism  to 
the  Gallo-Roman  church ;  from  acts  of  parliament  to  royal 
ordinances ;  from  the  neat  and  tasteful  stage-coach,  with  its 
nicely  caparisoned  horses,  and  driven  four  in  hand  by  the 
bluff  coachman,  to  the  lumbering  diligence,  half  baggage 
wagon  and  half  stage  coach,  drawn  by  five  fiery  Norman 
steeds,  loosely  tied  together  by  rope  harness,  and  straggling 
over  the  road,  guided  by  postilions  sunk  to  the  thighs  in 
gigantic  trunk  boots ;  and,  though  last  not  least,  from  the 
spit  to  the  casserole,  and  the  honest  joint  that  tells  its  own 
story,  to  the  sometimes  questionable  dainties  of  the  French 
cuisine. 

The  English  or  American  traveller  landing  on  the  conti 
nent  in  those  days,  (and  I  believe  the  case  is  not  very  differ 
ent  now,)  first  feels  that  he  has  reached  a  foreign  country 
when  he  passes  through  the  French  custom-house.  The  poor 
maniac  who  shot  the  Secretary  of  Sir  Robert  Peel,  mistaking 
him  for  Sir  Robert  himself,  labored  under  the  delusion  that 
he  was  pursued  by  fiends.  With  this  impression  on  his  mind 
he  fled  from  place  to  place,  seeking  rest  and  finding  none.  At 
length  he  crossed  from  Dover  to  Calais,  and  saw,  to  his 
amazement,  the  footstep  of  Louis  XVIIII.  deeply  cut  into  the 
granite  pavement  of  the  quay  !  His  diseased  fancy  converted 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  201 

this  piece  of  loyal  adulation  into  a  work  of  diabolical  agency. 
He  was  soon  beset  by  the  clamorous  porters  at  the  landing, 
and  the  tide-waiters  of  the  douane,  and  felt  that  in  them  his 
worst  visions  were  confirmed.  For  myself  I  had  never  had 
occasion  to  echo  the  complaints  of  travellers  on  this  subject. 
Taking  care  always  to  have  my  passport  duly  countersigned 
and  to  carry  nothing  contraband  in  my  portmanteau,  I  have 
never  encountered  a  custom-house  officer  on  any  frontier  or 
at  any  port,  who  was  proof  against  patience,  good  humor,  and 
a  five-franc  piece. 

One  of  our  countrymen,  however,  who  made  the  passage 
with  us  from  Southampton  to  Havre  on  this  occasion,  a  re 
spectable  retired  merchant  from  Boston,  seeking  relief  in  travel 
from  chronic  dyspepsia,  had  an  amusing  scene  with  the  custom 
officers  at  Havre.  The  unfortunate  gentleman  was  troubled 
with  an  eager  appetite,  which  of  course  it  was  not  proper  he 
should  indulge.  To  prevent  his  doing  so  was  the  arduous 
duty  of  his  sisters,  who  were  travelling  with  him.  To  elude 
their  vigilance,  he  usually  carried  in  his  great  coat  pocket  a 
private  store  of  gingerbread  or  sponge  cake,  carefully  wrapped 
up.  As  he  was  considerably  reduced  by  ill  health,  but  trav 
elling  in  garments  made  while  he  was  well,  the  concealed 
parcel  of  cake  as  he  landed  on  the  quay,  caused  the  pocket  of 
the  coat,  (which  hung  with  a  fulness  ever  suspicious  to  cus 
tom-house  officers,)  to  project  still  more  suspiciously.  The 
attention  of  the  tide-waiter  was  awakened,  and  he  suspected 
no  doubt  that  a  case  of  fine  English  cutlery,  or  a  package  of 
cigars,  was  about  to  be  smuggled  into  France.  He  accord 
ingly  walked  round  and  round  our  dyspeptic  traveller,  who 
saw  that  all  was  not  right,  but  who,  speaking  no  French, 
could  neither  give  nor  understand  an  explanation.  At  last 
the  officer  indicated  by  signs  that  the  contents  of  the  protrud 
ing  pocket  must  be  disclosed.  The  watchful  sisters  by  this 
time  had  taken  the  alarm,  and  the  idlers  on  the  quay  began 
to  congregate  about  the  party.  Our  invalid  felt  guilty,  not 
9* 


202  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

of  breaking  the  laws  of  France,  but  those  of  the  domestic 
empire,  and  his  conscious  blush  gave  new  impulse  to  the 
suspicions  of  the  officer.  The  questionable  packet  was  at 
length,  with  some  difficulty,  produced,  carefully  tied  up. 
The  string,  in  the  trepidation  of  hastily  untying  it,  (a  common 
case,)  ran  into  a  hard  knot.  More  delay,  more  suspicion, 
deeper  blushes.  At  length  the  irritated  gentleman  tore  open 
the  parcel,  and  with  a  look  between  the  comical  and  the  dis 
consolate,  pulled  out  a  great  cake  of  gingerbread  and  thrust 
it  into  the  officer's  face.  A  general  laugh  ensued,  and  the 
troublesome  article  was  allowed  to  pass  duty  free. 


NUMBEK    TWENTY-TWO. 

*    HAVRE  AND  ROUEN. 

The  importance  of  Havre  owing  to  its  position  at  the  mouth  of  the  Seine  and  the 
American  trade — St.  Pierre — Conflict  of  races  in  Normandy — Lillebonne— 
The  council-hall  of  William  the  Conqueror  swept  away  by  a  cotton  spinner — 
Detention  at  Eouen — Ugo  Foscolo — Thomas  Moore — Beranger — Society  at  Paris 
in  1817-1818 — Importance  of  Eouen— The  Cathedral— Heart  of  Eichard  Cceur 
de  Lion — Church  of  Saint  Ouen — William  the  Conqueror  could  not  write  his 
name — Deserted  at  his  death — Place  de  la  Pucelle,  where  Joan  of  Arc  was 
burned — Inflections  on  her  fate — Her  statue  by  the  Princess  Marie,  daughter  of 
Louis  Philippe — Voltaire,  Schiller — Corneille — Eegrets  that  he  had  not  chosen  the 
Maid  of  Orleans  for  a  heroine — Overturn  of  the  diligence. 

PARTING  at  Havre  with  Col.  Perkins,  who  was  travelling 
in  a  different  direction,  I  continued  the  journey  to  Paris  with 
my  friend,  Mr.  Delavan,  so  well  known  for  his  exertions  in  the 
temperance  cause,  whose  acquaintance  I  had  had  the  pleasure 
of  making  at  Southampton.  Of  'antiquarian  interest  there  is 
but  little  at  Havre,  of  which,  however,  the  foundation  dates 
from  the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  owes  its  im 
portance  principally  to  its  position  at  the  mouth  of  the  Seine, 
which  makes  it  in  reality  the  seaport  of  Paris,  and  gives  it 
no  small  share  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  France.  It  was 
originally  founded  by  Francis  I.,  but  the  guide  book  tells  us 
that  its  growth  in  modern  times  is  owing  to  a  cause  little 
foreseen  in  his  day,  and  connected  with  a  discovery  which  had 
been  lately  made  in  foreign  parts  by  a  Genoese  mariner. 
"  The  declaration  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States 
formed  the  groundwork  of  the  present  good  fortune  of 
Havre."  If  the  benefits  accruing  to  the  commerce,  manufac- 


204  THE    MOUNT    VEEISTON    PAPEKS. 

tures,  population,  and  general  prosperity  of  the  leading  States 
of  Europe  were  duly  estimated  by  them,  they  would  feel 
with  how  little  reason  they  view  with  jealous  and  even  hostile 
eye  the  growth  of  this  country.  To  say  nothing  of  their  par 
ticipation  in  all  the  general  advantages  of  a  friendly  commer 
cial  intercourse  with  the  American  continent,  I  took  the  liberty 
in  an  official  communication  to  the  representatives  of  the  two 
leading  powers  of  Europe  a  few  years  since,  to  express  the 
opinion,  that  but  for  the  refuge  afforded  in  the  United  States 
to  the  starving  millions  of  the  old  world  in  1847,  and  the  em 
ployment  given  to  their  industry  by  the  raw  materials  of  our 
agriculture  and  the  demands  of  our  consumption,  an  explosion 
would  have  taken  place,  which  would  have  shaken  society  to 
its  foundation.  I  have  within  a  few  weeks  read  a  pamphlet 
of  a  French  adventurer  in  Central  America,  who  speaks  of 
the  United  States,  in  the  coolness  of  his  hatred,  as  a  nuisance 
to  the  other  powers  of  the  earth,  which  ought  to  be  abated, 
not  remembering  to  how  many  cities  of  France,  besides 
Havre,  such  an  event  would  carry  desolation ! 

St.  Pierre  is,  I  believe,  the  only  native  of  Havre  who  has 
distinguished  himself  as  a  writer.  His  birth  at  Havre  per 
haps  led  him  in  after  life  to  engage  in  the  enterprise  for  the 
colonization  of  Madagascar.  The  world  may  be  said  to  be 
indebted  for  "  Paul  and  Virginia "  to  the  fact,  that  Havre 
is  a  seaport  carrying  on  a  familiar  commercial  intercourse  with 
the  colonies  of  France. 

In  pursuance  of  the  plan  already  alluded  to,  of  loitering  as 
little  as  possible  by  the  way,  I  took  the  diligence  in  the  even 
ing  for  Rouen.  I  passed  consequently  by  night  through  the 
region  where  many  of  the  most  important  scenes  were  acted, 
of  that  long  struggle  between  the  Norman  and  Saxon,  and 
afterwards  between  the  Anglo-Norman  and  the  Gallo-Norman 
races,  which  fills  the  most  memorable  ages  of  early  English 
history.  That  long  conflict  has  exercised  as  great  an  influence 
over  the  fortunes  of  the  modern  world,  as  the  old  struggles 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  205 

of  Persia  and  Greece,  and  of  Carthage  and  Rome,  did  upon  the 
fortunes  of  the  ancient  world.  It  will  be  felt  in  our  language, 
literature,  manners,  political  institutions,  and  religious  belief, 
for  ages  to  come,  and  till  new  convulsions  shall  create  a  new 
chaos  and  a  new  re-organization  among  the  families  of  men. 

The  road  from  Havre  to  Rouen  passes  through  Lillebonne, 
a  city  which  stands  on  the  site  and  retains  substantially  the 
name  of  Julia  bona,  (Julia  the  good,)  in  which  very  remarkable 
remains  of  a  spacious  Roman  theatre  have  been  excavated. 
It  is  overlooked  from  a  commanding  position,  by  the  ruins  of 
a  castle,  which  was  one  of  the  residences  of  William  the  Con 
queror,  and  in  which  he  is  said  to  have  consulted  his  barons 
on  the  project  of  invading  England.  The  guide  book  says 
that  "  the  great  Norman  hall,  in  which,  according  to  the  tradi 
tion,  William  met  his  barons  in  council,  has  been  entirely 
swept  away  by  the  present  proprietor,  a  cotton-spinner." 
Not  the  least  notable  of  the  sweepings  of  King  Cotton's 
besom !  The  "  present  proprietor "  would,  I  think,  have 
done  better  to  imitate  the  policy  which  William  the  Con 
queror  pursued  in  England,  and  to  preserve,  and,  if  need  be, 
render  commodious  for  modern  use,  rather  than  to  "  sweep 
away  "  the  Council  Hall,  in  which  the  most  momentous  event 
of  modern  history  was  decided  upon  ! 

I  had  expected,  on  leaving  Havre  for  a  night's  drive,  to  be 
able  to  continue  our  journey  from  Rouen,  wrhere  we  arrived 
in  the  morning.  We  found,  however,  that  all  the  places  in 
the  diligence  for  Paris,  except  one,  had  been  pre-engaged  at 
Rouen,  an  accident,  we  found  on  inquiry,  to  be  of  frequent 
occurrence,  and  therefore  supposed  by  impatient  travellers  to 
happen  on  purpose,  for  the  sake  of  detaining  them  for  a  day 
in  that  city.  All  these  little  annoyances  have  of  course  van 
ished  with  the  construction  of  railroads.  But  although  we 
were  unable  to  get  a  couple  of  seats  for  ourselves,  I  succeeded 
in  obtaining  one  for  my  faithful  Luigi,  a  respectable  young 
man  from  the  shores  of  the  Lago  Maggiore,  who  had  been 


206  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

recommended  to  me  in  England  in  the  spring,  by  Ugo  Fos- 
colo,  as  a  person  who  could  at  once  perform  the  duty  of  a 
travelling  servant  and  an  Italian  master.  He  had  lived  and 
travelled  with  me  in  these  capacities  for  several  months,  grad 
ually  adding  to  them  that  of  humble  friend. 

Having  named  Ugo  Foscolo,  one  of  the  most  original 
characters  and  eminent  writers  of  modern  Italy,  the  reader 
will  pardon  me,  I  am  sure,  for  dwelling  a  few  moments  on 
my  recollections  of  him,  as  preserved  from  a  familiar  acquaint 
ance  during  the  spring  and  summer  of  1818.  A  native  of 
one  of  the  Ionian  Islands,  but  of  a  Venitian  family,  he  had 
received  a  very  superior  classical  education.  He  was  a  criti 
cal  Greek  scholar,  and  wrote  and  spoke  the  Latin  language 
Avith  fluency.  He  had  been  an  officer  of  cavalry  in  the  army 
of  the  Cisalpine  republic,  and  was  one  of  the  deputies  from 
that  republic  to  the  Congress  held  at  Lyons  after  the  return 
of  Napoleon  from  Egypt.  Here  he  pronounced,  on  behalf  of 
his  constituents,  a  remarkable  discourse,  in  which  he  censured 
the  preceding  French  governments  with  unsparing  severity, 
earnestly  appealing  to  Napoleon,  of  whom  he  wras  at  that 
time  the  eulogist  and  admirer,  to  correct  their  abuses.  He 
filled,  for  a  short  time,  the  chair  of  polite  literature  at  Pavia, 
and  after  the  suppression  of  that  and  the  other  professorships 
of  classical  literature  and  belles-lettres,  lived  in  discontented 
retirement,  brooding  over  the  oppression  of  his  countrymen,  to 
whom  the  only  alternative  offered  was  that  of  the  French  or 
Austrian  yoke.  When  I  knew  him  he  was  living  in  strait 
ened  circumstances  in  England.  He  had  delivered  lectures 
on  Dante,  Boccaccio,  and  Petrarch,  in  London,  which  were 
afterwards  published,  in  different  works,  and  form  perhaps 
the  acutest  commentary  on  "  the  all-Etruscan  three."  With 
the  exception  of  Alfieri,  if  he  is  an  exception,  Foscolo  was,  at 
that  time,  the  most  vigorous  of  the  modern  Italian  writers. 
His  Jacopo  Ortis  is  an  Italian  Werther,  but,  though  an  imita 
tion,  had  a  great  influence  at  the  time  of  its  publication  on  the 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  207 

reading  classes.  I  greatly  value  a  copy  of  it  given  me  by 
himself,  as  also  a  copy  of  a  curious  satire  on  his  literary  con 
temporaries,  written  in  the  language  and  style  of  the  Vulgate. 
We  occupied  the  greater  part  of  an  afternoon  passed  at  his 
retired  rural  lodgings,  in  reading  this  piquant  composition,  of 
which  he  explained  to  me  the  personal  allusions  ;  but  they 
have  long  since  lost  all  interest  except  for  the  literary  anti 
quary,  lie  used  to  complain  of  the  late  English  hours,  which, 
he  said,  destroyed  health  and  eyesight.  He  quoted  with 
great  applause  Dr.  Franklin's  new  mode  of  lighting  large 
towns,  viz.,  by  sunshine.  I  dined  with  him  on  one  occasion 
at  the  hospitable  table  of  the  elder  Murray,  with  a  party  con 
sisting  of  some  of  the  most  distinguished  literary  celebrities 
of  the  day,  among  others  Mr.  Thomas  Moore,  who  sang  sev 
eral  of  his  own  songs.  It  will  readily  be  believed  that  the 
hours  were  winged  with  geniality ;  they  were,  however,  pro 
longed  till  two  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Foscolo  and  myself 
walked  home  to  our  lodgings  together  at  that  unseasonable 
hour,  (he  was  then  living  in  London,)  and  at  every  pause  in 
the  conversation  he  muttered  "  troppo  lungo,"  (too  long.)  If 
the  reader  will  look  into  Lord  Broughton's  (Mr.  Hobhouse's) 
"  Illustrations  of  the  fourth  canto  of  Childe  Harolde,"  he  will 
perceive  that  Ugo  Foscolo  is  well  entitled  to  the  place  which 
I  have  given  him  in  these  desultory  recollections.  He  is 
mentioned  by  Lord  Byron,  in  his  preface  to  the  same  poem, 
with  ten  or  twelve  others  of  his  countrymen,  as  persons  who 
"  will  secure  to  the  present  generation  in  Italy  an  honorable 
place  in  most  of  the  departments  of  science  and  belles- 
lettres." 

Having  stated  that,  on  the  occasion  above  alluded  to,  I 
heard  Mr.  Thomas  Moore  sing  some  of  his  own  songs,  I  may 
add  that  I  had  a  similar  gratification,  the  preceding  winter  at 
Paris,  in  hearing  several  of  Beranger's  songs,  and  especially 
the  Dieu  des  bons  yens,  sung  by  himself.  It  was  my  good 
fortune  occasionally  to  meet  this  remarkable  man  at  the  tables 


208  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEKS. 

of  General  Lafayette,  Benjamin  Constant,  and  one  or  two 
other  persons  belonging  to  the  circle  of  liberal  statesmen  in 
France.  Besides  the  two  named,  the  Abbe  de  Pradt,  then  at 
the  height  of  his  popularity,  the  baron  Alexandre  von  Hum- 
boldt,  Bishop  Gregoire,  Mr.  Gallatin,  M.  Manuel,  General 
Foy,  M.  David  d' Angers,  the  sculptor,  and  Talma,  the  great 
tragedian,  were  of  these  parties,  where  the  conversation,  it  is 
scarcely  necessary  to  say,  was  most  brilliant  and  fascinating. 
Beranger  was  often  an  honored  and  favorite  guest,  though 
somewhat  reserved  in  his  manners.  Amidst  all  the  delicacies 
of  the  French  cuisine,  the  material  repast,  which,  by  the  way, 
was  of  a  brevity  to  satisfy  Ugo  Foscolo  himself,  was,  beyond 
comparison,  the  least  attractive  part  of  the  banquet.  The 
highest  political  and  social  questions  of  the  day  were  discuss 
ed  by  men  of  master  minds,  trained  in  the  great  vicissitudes 
of  the  revolution,  the  empire,  and  the  restoration.  No  one 
shone  to  greater  advantage  on  these  occasions  than  Mr.  Galla 
tin,  whose  memory  was  a  vast  storehouse  of  discriminating 
observation  and  important  fact,  and  whose  acuteness  sur 
passed  that  of  most  men  whom  I  have  known.  These  dinners 
rarely  passed  off  without  one  of  his  own  songs  from  Beranger, 
often  the  last  composed  by  him.  Like  Thomas  Moore,  he 
had  scarce  any  thing  of  a  voice,  but  in  the  case  of  both,  exquis 
ite  poetry,  the  deep  pathos  of  an  aggrieved  nationality,  and 
conscious  influence  over  public  sentiment,  more  than  supplied 
the  want  of  mere  musical  execution. 

But  I  have  wandered  far  (not  I  trust  to  the  discontent  of 
the  reader,  who  will  not  be  offended  with  these  somewhat 
disconnected  recollections  of  great  men  who  have  passed 
away)  from  the  little  Lombardian  travelling  servant  recom 
mended  to  me  by  Ugo  Foscolo.  Having  no  occasion  for  his 
services  on  the  way  to  Paris,  I  took  the  only  vacant  place  for 
him,  in  the  diligence  that  started  in  the  morning,  and  re 
mained  myself  to  pass  the  day  at  Rouen,  one  of  the  most 
important  cities  of  France.  As  a  manufacturing  town  it  is 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  209 

one  of  the  most  considerable,  and  it  has  a  depth  of  water  in 
the  Seine  which  admits  vessels  of  two  or  three  hundred  tons. 
It  possesses  architectural  monuments  of  extreme  magnificence 
and  beauty  ;  and  its  historical  associations,  as  the  capital  of 
lower  Normandy,  are  of  the  most  rich  and  varied  character. 
It  will  readily  be  supposed  that  a  day's  observation  of  such  a 
place  could  add  nothing  to  the  stock  of  information  contained 
in  the  guide  books  ;  in  fact,  could  but  embrace  a  portion  of 
the  objects  worthy  the  traveller's  attention.  But  here,  as  in 
so  many  other  places,  even  a  day's  observation  gives  a  dis 
tinctness  of  impression,  especially  as  to  localities,  not  to  be 
got  from  books  alone,  and  leads  you  to  read  with  greatly  in 
creased  relish  and  profit. 

The  Cathedral  of  Rouen  is  one  of  the  grandest  of  the. 
structures  of  this  class.  It  is  severely  criticized  by  Mr.  Gal 
ley  Knight,  and  other  learned  amateurs,  for  incoherent  mix 
ture  of  style  and  excess  of  ornament,  portions  of  it  being  built 
in  a  declining  age  of  art;  but  the  entire  effect  upon  an  un 
critical  eye  is  extremely  imposing.  Its  interior  is  not  far 
from  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  length,  and  the  nave  is 
about  ninety  feet  in  height.  There  are  three  magnificent  rose 
windows  in  the  nave  and  transept ;  and  in  the  last  chapel,  on 
the  southern  side  of  the  nave,  is  the  monument  of  Rollo,  the 
first  duke  of  Normandy.  Several  of  the  chapels  contain 
painted  glass  windows,  of  great  age  and  beauty.  Within  the 
choir  a  piece  of  colored  marble,  sunk  into  the  pavement,  in 
dicates  the  spot  where  the  heart  of  Richard  Coeur  de  Leon 
was  buried.  His  rude  statue,  which  disappeared  in  the  time 
of  the  Huguenots  in  the  sixteenth  century,  was  discovered 
under  the  high  altar  about  twenty  years  after  my  visit.  His 
"  lion  heart "  shrunk,  but  in  perfect  preservation,  was  found 
at  the  same  time,  wrapped  in  thick  silk  and  enclosed  in  a 
leaden  case.  It  was  removed  to  the  Museum.  Richard  had 
bequeathed  it  to  the  city  of  Rouen,  from  the  especial  affection 
which  he  bore  to  the  Normans. 


210  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

The  church  of  St.  Ouen,  nearly  as  long  as  the  Cathedral, 
and  of  somewhat  greater  height,  is  justly  deemed  one  of  the 
noblest  specimens  in  the  world  of  this  style  of  architecture. 
It  has  suffered  from  time,  from  fanaticism,  and  from  political 
Vandalism.  The  Huguenots  made  bonfires  in  it,  to  burn  the 
images  of  the  saints,  the  wood  wrork  of  the  altars,  and  the 
vestments  of  the  priests ;  and  the  terrorists  of  1793  set  up 
a  blacksmith's  forge  in  one  of  the  chapels  for  the  repair  of 
arms ;  godless  unbelief  and  the  sternest  orthodoxy  meeting 
on  the  same  platform  of  desecration.  It  is,  however,  in  the 
main,  well  preserved,  has  been  judiciously  restored,  and  the 
essential  parts  of  it  having  been  built  within  one  generation 
and  in  the  best  age  of  the  art,  it  far  exceeds  the  Cathedral  in 
purity  of  taste,  and  unity  and  harmony  of  design.  Some  of 
the  finest  painted  glass  in  Europe  is  to  be  seen  in  this  noble 
church.  It  is  said  that  the  master  architect  murdered  one  of 
his  journeymen,  from  jealousy  of  the  superior  taste  and  skill 
which  the  youth  had  exhibited  in  one  of  the  exquisitely  beau 
tiful  rose  windows. 

The  Museum  of  Rouen  contains  objects  of  great  curiosity. 
I  have  already  mentioned  one  of  them,  the  poor  shrunken 
remains  of  the  Lion  Heart,  for  whose  living  pulses  Europe 
and  Asia  were  too  small.  What  a  moral  antithesis ;  the 
heart  of  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  wrapped,  not  in  plaited  mail, 
but  in  grave  clothes,  encased,  not  in  burnished  steel,  but  in 
mortuary  lead,  and  exposed  to  view  in  a  museum  !  The 
same  museum  contains  another  relic,  which  illustrates  in  a 
different  way  the  vanity  of  human  greatness, — a  charter  of 
William  the  Conqueror,  authenticated,  not  by  his  signature, 
but  his  *  mark.  The  stern  and  politic  chieftain,  who  accom 
plished  what  Julius  Csesar  imperfectly  attempted,  and  Napo 
leon  wholly  failed  to  achieve  ;  who  ingrafted  the  fiery  courage 
and  haughty  spirit  of  the  Norman  on  the  persistent  endurance 
and  judicial  method  of  the  Saxon ;  who  gave  nerve  and  blood 
to  muscle  and  wind,  and  thus  laid  the  foundation  of  a  power 


TIIE   MOUNT    VEENON    TAPEHS.  211 

which,  after  eight  hundred  years,  girdles  the  globe,  could  not 
write  his  name  !  The  great  Conqueror  of  the  British  Islands 
died  in  the  suburbs  of  Rouen,  and  his  poor  remains,  deserted 
by  his  courtiers,  neglected  by  his  children,  stripped  by  his 
servants,  were  left  to  be  conveyed  by  charitable  strangers  to 
their  last  resting-place  at  Caen.  Such  are  the  terrible  homi 
lies,  in  which  Providence,  taking  Death  for  a  text,  preaches 
humility  to  the  great  ones  of  the  earth  ! 

But  there  is  a  spot  in  Rouen,  the  Place  de  la  Pucelle 
(Maiden  place)  which  teaches  the  lesson  in  sadder  terms  than 
the  deserted  death-beds  of  remorseless  monarchs.  In  this 
Place,  about  twenty  years  only  before  the  invention  of  the  art 
of  printing  was  consummated,  and  a  complete  edition  of  the 
Bible  was  issued  from  the  press ;  in  this  Place,  in  the  century 
that  witnessed  the  discovery  of  America,  an  innocent  girl, 
who  united  every  thing  in  her  person  and  history,  which  could 
command  admiration  and  merit  gentle  and  honorable  treat 
ment,  was  burned  alive  !  Her  crime  was,  that  she  had  kin 
dled  such  enthusiasm  in  the  hearts  of  her  craven  countrymen, 
as  enabled  them  to  wrest  a  portion  of  their  soil  from  the 
foreign  conqueror.  Her  betrayers  and  accusers  were  the 
unworthy  Frenchmen  whom  she  had  rescued  from  vassalage ; 
her  executioners  were  the  English  prelates  and  nobles,  who 
meanly  revenged  upon  the  poor  fettered  girl  the  shameful  de 
feats  they  had  suffered  in  the  field  from  the  maiden  champion. 
A  monument  unworthy  of  her  memory  stands  upon  the  spot 
where  she  perished  at  the  stake ;  a  nobler  monument,  the 
work  of  a  king's  daughter,  is  dedicated  to  her  memory  at 
Versailles.  King  Louis  Philippe,  in  1840,  spoke  to  me, 
with  moist  eyes,  of  this  admirable  work  of  his  daughter,  and 
added,  with  gratified  paternal  feeling,  that  the  inhabitants  of 
Domremy,  the  native  place  of  Joan  of  Arc,  had  petitioned  him 
for  a  copy  of  it,  which  he,  I  think,  has  since  erected  in  that 
village.  I  know  of  no  bitterer  satire  on  the  France  of  the 
eighteenth  century, — no  more  striking  proof  that  she  stood  in 


212          THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

need  of  some  fierce  and  burning  process  of  regeneration, — 
than  that  her  greatest  and  most  popular  writer  in  that  cen 
tury, — Voltaire, — should  have  made  this  almost  sainted  hero 
ine  the  object  of  his  abominable  ribaldry,  and  left  it  to  a 
foreigner, — Schiller, — to  celebrate  her  poetical  apotheosis,  in 
a  strain  not  unworthy  of  the  theme. 

About  two  centuries  after  the  acting  of  this  terrible  trag 
edy  in  the  Place  de  la  Pucelle,  the  noblest  tragic  writer  of 
France,  the  great  Corneille,  was  born  at  Rouen.  His  statue 
adorns  the  bridge  which  spans  the  Seine.  One  cannot  but 
lament,  that,  instead  of  bestowing  the  immortality  of  his 
genius  on  the  legends  of  the  mythical  Spanish  champion,  he 
had  not  held  up  the  inspired  Maid  of  Orleans,  (inspired, 
beyond  the  measure  of  ordinary  humanity,  with  faith,  patri 
otism,  and  courage,)  to  the  reverence  of  his  countrymen.  He 
might  have  rescued  her  by  anticipation  from  the  infamies  of 
Voltaire,  and  won  for  France,  what  now  belongs  to  a  foreign 
muse,  the  credit  of  having  first  rendered  due  honor  to  her 
gentle  heroism  and  spotless  name. 

My  poor  Lombardian,  who  preceded  me  twelve  hours 
from  Rouen,  reached  Paris  but  a  very  little  time  before  me. 
The  diligence  in  which  he  was  travelling  broke  down,  and  the 
passengers  were  obliged  to  while  away  their  time  in  the  high 
road  till  it  could  be  repaired.  Luigi  assured  me  that,  when 
they  crept  to  light  from  the  Interior  in  the  centre  of  the 
vehicle,  the  gallery  behind,  the  Coupe  in  front,  and  the  Boot 
above,  they  amounted,  all  told,  to  twenty -three,  besides  the 
Conductor,  an  indefinite  amount  of  luggage  and  merchandise 
being  bestowed  in  the  Imperial.  Such  was  the  Diligence  in 
France  forty  years  ago  ! 


NUMBEK   TWENTY-THEEE. 

WILL  THERE  BE  A  WAR  IN  EUROPE? 

The  vast  importance  of  this  question — Comparative  strength  of  the  parties  in  a 
military  point  of  view — The  leaders  described,  the  Austrian  Emperor  Francis 
Joseph,  the  King  of  Sardinia  Victor  Emmanuel  II.,  the  Emperor  of  the  French— 
The  German  Confederation  in  its  relations  to  the  contest — Hungary  and  the 
possibility  of  a  new  revolution — The  general  spirit  of  disaffection  in  Italy  and  the 
strength  which  it  lends  to  Sardinia  as  the  champion  of  Italian  nationality— Quali 
fied  in  practice  by  the  hostile  feelings  of  the  Italian  States  toward  each  other. 

"  WILL  there  be  a  war  in  Europe  1 "  This  is  a  question 
which,  more  than  any  other  relating  to  human  affairs,  now 
occupies  the  thoughts  of  reflecting  men  throughout  the  civil 
ized  world.  Before  this  paper  sees  the  light,  the  question 
may  have  been  decided,  and  a  page  of  fearful  significance  for 
good  or  for  evil, — importing  prosperity  or  devastation  to  fer 
tile  regions,  permanence  or  downfall  to  established  govern 
ments,  life  or  death  to  tens  of  thousands  of  our  fellow- 
creatures, — may  have  been  turned  in  the  volume  of  contempo 
rary  history.  If  the  question  is  decided  for  peace  on  any  basis 
that  promises  a  durable  settlement  of  the  existing  contro 
versies,  a  period  of  amost  unprecedented  prosperity  will  open 
on  the  world,  affording  the  various  states  of  Europe  ample 
opportunity  to  recover  from  the  exhaustion  of  their  recent 
struggles,  with  the  energy  of  a  mighty  re-action.  The  abun 
dance  of  recently  discovered  gold,  and  the  unexampled  perfec 
tion  to  which  the  mechanical  arts,  and  the  facilities  for 
transport  and  travel  have  been  brought,  with  the  astonishing 
development  of  mental  energy  and  inventive  sagacity  which 


214  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

are  everywhere  manifesting  themselves,  seem  to  mark  out  the 
present  time  as  one  of  the  most  auspicious  for  further  im 
provement  and  progress,  that  the  world  has  ever  seen.  If  the 
great  question  is  decided  for  war,  all  admit, — the  rival  leaders 
in  the  British  parliament  unite  in  proclaiming  with  anxiety, — 
that  it  will  be  a  contest  of  fearful  range  and  of  desolating 
violence. 

The  parties  to  the  contest  are  such,  in  the  present  state  of 
the  political  equilibrium  of  Europe,  as  to  foreshadow  the 
tremendous  proportions  of  the  struggle.  They  will  be,  at  the 
first  outbreak,  Austria  on  the  one  side,  and  on  the  other  Sar 
dinia  and  her  ally,  France.  The  army  of  Austria,  on  its 
ordinary  peace  establishment,  is  usually  reckoned  at  four 
hundred  thousand  men,  capable  of  being  carried,  by  calling 
out  the  reserve,  very  nearly  to  six  hundred  thousand.  This 
army  is  in  a  state  of  effective  organization  and  perfect  drill. 
The  regular  army  of  France  for  the  year  1857  was  estimated 
at  450,000,  with  sixty-two  thousand  seamen  in  the  imperial 
navy.  The  official  paper  denies  that  the  regular  force  has 
been  augmented  the  present  season.  But  if  not  professedly 
augmented,  the  regiments  have  undoubtedly  been  filled  up  to 
their  complement,  and  the  actual  state  of  the  army  (what 
rarely  happens  in  time  of  peace)  carried  up  to  the  returns. 
As  for  Sardinia,  whose  population  is  estimated  in  the  French 
imperial  Almanach  for  this  year  at  4,300,000,  (only  a  third 
larger  than  the  State  of  New  York,)  her  regular  army  is 
about  fifty  thousand,  which  is  now  said  to  be  rapidly  swelled 
by  volunteers  from  every  part  of  Italy.  These  armies  are 
not,  like  the  undisciplined  rabble  of  Turkey  and  China,  armed 
with  rusty  guns,  and  protected  by  shields  emblazoned  with 
painted  lions.  They  are  provided  with  the  last  improvements 
in  ordnance  and  the  munitions  of  war,  and  trained  to  perfec 
tion  in  their  use.  The  lazy  tactics  of  the  last  century  have 
long  since  been  discarded.  Celerity  of  movement,  in  over 
whelming  masses,  artillery  flying  over  the  field  on  the  wings 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS.  215 

of  the  wind,  rifled  musketry  of  fearful  range,  throwing  to  an 
incredible  distance  balls  of  a  murderous  weight  and  configu 
ration,  are  now  introduced  into  the  armies  of  Europe.  In  a 
word,  the  arts  of  destruction  are  not  a  whit  behind  the  arts  of 
peaceful  culture,  in  the  perfection  to  which  they  have  been 
carried.  If  the  Austrian  and  Franco-Sardinian  forces  take  the 
field  against  each  other,  it  will  be  a  shock  of  arms  scarcely 
witnessed  before  in  the  world. 

The  sovereigns  by  whom  these  great  powers  will  be  put 
in  motion, — probably  commanded  in  person, — are  all  sup 
posed  to  be  animated  by  courage  and  military  ambition.  The 
Emperor  of  Austria,  Francis  Joseph,  now  twenty-nine  years 
of  age,  was,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  called  to  the  throne  of  the 
Hapsburgs,  at  a  period  of  perilous  convulsion,  by  the  abdica 
tion  of  his  imbecile  uncle,  the  Emperor  Ferdinand,  and  the 
voluntary  renunciation  of  the  right  of  succession  by  his  father. 
He  was  thought,  even  at  that  immature  age,  to  evince  a  capa 
city  for  sovereign  power  in  arduous  times.  Under  the  influ 
ence  of  his  mother,  the  Archduchess  Sophia,  and  the  advice  of 
wise  counsellors,  coming  in  aid  of  no  ordinary  tact,  firmness, 
and  resolution,  he  carried  the  empire  through  the  immense 
perils  of  the  crisis, — brought  the  revolutionary  struggle  to  a 
close, — appeased  Hungary,  in  appearance  if  not  in  reality, — 
harmonized  the  various  races  subject  to  his  rule, — preserved 
the  neutrality  of  his  empire  in  the  Crimean  war,  though  sorely 
pressed  and  greatly  tempted  by  France  and  England  to  take 
an  active  part, — and  maintained,  when  strained  almost  to 
rupture,  relations  of  friendship  with  the  great  rival  German 
power,  the  King  of  Prussia.  With  eleven  years  prosperous 
experience  of  power,  the  youthful  Sovereign  is  said  to  retain 
an  impatient  recollection  of  the  humiliations  of  his  family  and 
Empire  in  the  war  of  the  French  Revolution,  and  to  burn  to 
wipe  out  the  names  of  Austerlitz  and  Wagram  from  the  his 
tory  of  Europe. 

The  King  of  Sardinia  is  by  ten  years  the  senior  of  the 


216  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

Emperor  of  Austria,  and  acceded  to  the  throne  on  the  abdica 
tion  of  his  father  in  1849.  This  prince  is  also  animated  by 
personal  ambition,  civil  and  military.  He  has  sought  to 
place  himself  at  the  head  of  the  liberal  party  of  Italy.  Parlia 
mentary  institutions  and  popular  reforms  have  been  intro 
duced  into  his  dominions.  The  religious  houses  have  in 
many  cases  been  suppressed,  and  lands  held  for  ages  in  mort 
main  appropriated  to  the  service  of  the  State.  The  govern 
ment  is  carried  on  by  a  responsible  ministry,  the  trial  by 
jury  is  adopted,  and  the  liberty  of  the  press  established.  In 
short,  the  political  organization  of  England  has  been  imitated, 
and  as  much  of  the  spirit  of  constitutional  government  bor 
rowed  with  it,  as  is  at  all  compatible  with  the  fiery  temperament 
of  the  Latin  races.  Besides  concurring  in  these  attempts  to 
liberalize  the  government  of  his  own  dominions,  Victor  Em 
manuel  II.  has  assumed  the  stand  of  champion  of  Italian  na 
tionality  and  independence.  He  is  supposed  to  aim  at  the 
fusion  of  all  the  States  of  Italy  into  one  system,  of  which  Sar 
dinia  is  to  be  the  head.  The  English  premier,  in  his  speech 
of  April  18th,  ascribes  much  of  the  anxiety  and  distrust 
which  exist  on  the  part  of  Austria,  and  which  have  compelled 
her  to  clothe  herself  in  the  panoply  of  War,  to  the  disposition 
shown  by  the  King  of  Sardinia  to  encourage  disaffection  to 
their  governments  in  the  other  Italian  States,  and  especially  in 
the  Austrian  provinces,  (the  Lombardo-Venetian  kingdom,) 
and  to  his  somewhat  rhetorical  exclamation  at  the  opening  of 
the  Piedmontese  Chambers,  that  there  was  "a  cry  of  anguish" 
from  the  other  parts  of  Italy,  to  which  he  could  not  remain 
indifferent.  Nor  is  the  military  spirit  of  this  prince  less 
apparent.  Without  the  slightest  possible  interest  in  the 
Crimean  war,  he  allowed  a  considerable  part  of  his  forces  to 
be  subsidized  by  England  for  that  contest.  The  Sardinian 
government,  it  may  be  proper  to  state,  has  shown  at  all  times 
a  friendly  disposition  toward  the  United  States,  and  affords 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEKS.  217 

us,  in  the  commodious  harbor  of  Spezia,  an  admirable  rendez 
vous  for  our  vessels  of  war  in  the  Mediterranean. 

The  third  and  the  most  important  party  to  the  impending 
war  is  the  Emperor  of  the  French.  His  power  also  may  be 
said,  like  that  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria  and  the  King  of 
Sardinia,  to  date  from  the  memorable  years  of  1848-'49  ;  for 
though  his  accession  to  the  empire  took  place  in  December 
1852,  the  way  was  prepared  for  it  by  his  election  as  President 
of  the  French  republic ;  in  fact,  by  the  subversion  of  the 
throne  of  Louis  Philippe.  It  is  generally  thought  and  said  in 
Europe,  that  the  question  of  peace  or  war  rests  exclusively, — 
and  at  present  inscrutably, — within  his  bosom.  This,  how 
ever,  is  probably  an  error.  It  may  be  true  that  the  precise 
time,  at  which  the  causes  shall  take  effect  that  are  now  work 
ing  together  toward  an  outbreak  in  the  South  of  Europe,  may 
depend  very  much  upon  the  will  of  the  Emperor  of  the 
French.  But  that  it  is  in  his  power  wholly  to  neutralize  their 
action,  and  substitute  a  good  understanding  between  Austria 
and  Sardinia  for  the  present  hostile  disposition  of  those  powers 
to  each  other, — and  diffuse  content  and  acquiescence  in  the  pres 
ent  state  of  things,  throughout  the  Italian  peninsula,  is,  as  it 
seems  to  me,  an  extravagant  and  wholly  unfounded  suppo 
sition.  Without  at  all  undervaluing  the  importance  of  the 
participation  of  Napoleon  III.  in  the  approaching  contest,  it 
would,  as  I  think,  be  a  great  mistake  of  its  causes  and  char 
acter  to  suppose  that  it  is,  so  to  say,  got  up  by  him,  though 
this  appears  to  be  the  opinion  of  very  many  persons  at  home 
and  abroad. 

Such  are  the  Leaders  on  both  sides  of  the  great  impending 
struggle,  and  the  forces  at  their  command.  But  there  are 
many  subsidiary  circumstances,  which  will  modify  the  com 
plexion  of  the  contest  and  seriously  affect  its  character.  As 
suming  for  the  present,  that  the  other  three  great  European 
powers,  Russia,  Prussia,  and  England,  will  preserve  their 
neutrality  in  the  struggle,  (which  will,  however,  in  each  case 
10 


218  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

most  assuredly  be  what  England  through  her  Premier  has 
announced  for  herself,  viz.,  "  an  armed  neutrality,")  there  are 
still  very  formidable  auxiliary  forces,  which  must  inevitably 
be  drawn  into  the  struggle.  On  the  side  of  Austria,  there  is 
the  German  Confederation,  of  which  she  is  the  head.  Many 
of  its  members  will  from  inclination  march  under  her  ban 
ners  ;  all  owe  her  a  qualified  allegiance.  The  war  contingent 
of  the  Federal  body  has  already  been  called  out  by  the  diet 
at  Frankfort.  In  a  cause  to  which  Germans  as  a  people  were 
hostile  or  indifferent,  this  would  be  a  matter  of  little  account, 
but  the  public  mind  in  Germany  is  vehemently  excited  on 
the  side  of  Austria.  The  course  pursued  by  Louis  Napoleon 
has  been  assailed  with  great  bitterness  by  the  leading  German 
Journals.  The  memory  of  the  mortifications  to  which  Ger 
many  was  subjected  during  the  reign  of  Napoleon  I.  has  been 
studiously  rekindled.  And  whatever  may  be  the  justice  with 
which  the  benefits  accruing  from  his  subversion  of  the  crazy 
machinery  of  the  old  German  empire,  are  urged,  (and  they 
are  plausibly  urged  in  the  Idees  Napoleoniennesj)  great  politi 
cal  changes  forced  by  a  foreign  potentate  on  a  proud  people,  at 
the  point  of  the  bayonet,  can  never  be  the  foundation  of  an 
efficient  popularity.  In  a  war  of  opinion  between  Austria 
and  France,  not  touching  the  political  rights  or  material  in 
terest  of  Germany,  she  would  march  as  one  man,  under  the 
banner  of  her  old  imperial  leader. 

The  condition  of  Hungary  is,  however,  not  to  be  forgotten. 
A  few  years  only  have  elapsed  since  Austria  was  obliged  to 
rely  upon  Eussian  bayonets  to  quell  the  disaffection  of  that 
portion  of  her  empire ; — the  abode  of  fourteen  millions  of  in 
habitants,  bound  together  by  a  language  of  their  own,  by 
community  of  oppressions  resented  for  ages,  and  the  late 
convulsive  struggle  for  independence.  How  far  the  recent 
hatreds  of  that  struggle  have  been  softened  by  the  lapse  of 
ten  years  and  the  conciliatory  government  of  the  present 
Emperor,  is  uncertain  ;  but  it  seems  hardly  in  human  nature 


TliE   MOUNT    VEENON    PAPEES.  219 

that  any  material  change  in  the  public  mind  should  have 
taken  place.  None  such  is  indicated  in  the  expressions  of 
opinion  occasionally  put  forth  by  Kossuth.  If  Hungary 
should  find  the  opportunity  for  a  new  revolt,  in  the  with 
drawal  of  the  main  body  of  the  Austrian  army,  to  a  war  in 
Italy,  it  would  strike  a  fatal  blow  at  the  Imperial  power  ; 
especially  in  the  present  friendly  relations  of  Russia  and 
France,  which  would  prevent  the  former,  as  in  1848,  from  com 
ing  to  the  rescue. 

On  the  Italian  side  of  the  great  controversy,  facts  of 
nearly  equal  significance  will  materially  affect  the  strength 
of  the  hostile  parties.  Sardinia  herself  is  but  a  second-rate 
power,  but  she  represents  both  a  physical  and  a  moral  force 
of  the  most  formidable  character.  She  represents  the  tradi 
tionary  hatred  toward  the  "  barbarian  ; "  the  passionate  long 
ings  of  Italy  for  political  independence  ;  the  fervid  dream  of 
a  patriotic  nationality,  which  has  glowed  unsatisfied  in  the 
Italian  imagination  for  three  or  four  hundred  years.  Clothed 
in  no  constitutional  forms, — hopeless  of  any  such  forms,  in 
the  judgment  of  the  cool  observer, — this  feeling  operates  with 
so  much  the  greater  intensity.  The  moment  an  attempt  is 
made  to  turn  it  into  a  reality,  the  gravest  practical  obstacles 
present  themselves  ;  but  while  it  is  confined  to  the  aspirations 
of  the  ardent  and  generous  children  of  the  one  Italian  soil, 
and  comprehends  within  the  range  of  its  heart-sick  and  long- 
deferred  possibilities,  all  who — on  whichever  side  of  the 
Apennines,  and  whether  they  breathe  the  refreshing  gales  of 
the  Adriatic  or  the  Tuscan  sea — cherish  the  gorgeous  vision 
of  a  regenerated  and  united  Italy,  it  mingles  in  the  contest 
with  the  force  of  twelve  legions. 

Unhappily  however  for  Italy,  the  bright  vision  vanishes 
like  a  perturbed  spirit,  at  the  breaking  of  the  chilly  dawn  of 
real  life.  The  Sardinian  hates  the  barbarian  from  beyond  the 
Alps,  but  he  hates  his  Lombardo-Venetian  brother  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Po,  not  less  intensely.  The  Genoese  has  not 


220  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEHS. 

yet  forgotten  that  he  was  robbed  of  his  sea-born  independence, 
and  made  subject  to  the  crown  of  Turin,  by  that  Congress  of 
Vienna  which  sat  to  redress  the  wrongs  of  revolutionary 
France.  Tuscans,  and  Neapolitans,  and  Sicilians,  and  subjects 
of  the  Ecclesiastical  state,  have  for  ages  regarded  each  other 
with  aversion  and  scorn ;  and  it  is  probable,  at  this  moment, 
if  the  practical  sense  of  the  People  of  the  various  Italian 
States  could  be  fairly  polled,  not  one  of  them  would  exchange 
its  present  allegiance  to  become  subject  to  Sardinia.* 

But  I  must  not  forget  that  before  this  paper  sees  the  light, 
a  blow  may  have  been  struck  which  may  render  all  anticipa 
tions  baseless  and  nugatory. 

*  I  leave  this  sentence  as  it  was  written  ten  months  ago.  To  what  extent  the 
unbiassed  feeling  of  the  People  of  the  Grand  Duchies  favors  annexation  to  Peidmont 
does  not  yet  clearly  appear ;  but  events  have  shown  that  the  traditionary  feuds 
alluded  to  in  the  text  are  less  operative,  at  the  present  day,  than  they  appeared  to 
be  twenty  years  ago.  The  establishment  of  liberal  institutions  in  Sardinia  and  the 
Austro-Sardinian  war  in  1849,  were  events  well  calculated  to  win  for  Sardinia  the 
sympathies  of  patriotic  citizens  in  every  part  of  Italy. 


NUMBER  TWENTY-FOUR. 

ANOTHER  VOLUME   OF  WASHINGTON'S  DIARY. 

Another  portion  of  Washington's  Diary  in  the  possession  of  J.  K.  Marshall,  Esq. — 
Description  of  the  manuscript  and  its  contents — Circumspection  of  Washington 
in  receiving  foreigners — General  appropriation  bill  for  1790 — Tour  on  Long 
Island — Presents  to  foreign  ministers  on  taking  leave — Chasms  in  the  Diary — The 
President  starts  on  a  Southern  tour — In  great  danger  in  crossing  from  the  Eastern 
shore  of  Maryland  to  Annapolis — Reception  there — Continues  his  journey  to 
Georgetown— Conference  with  the  proprietors  of  the  lands  on  which  the  city  of 
"Washington  was  to  be  erected — They  agree  to  a  cession  of  lands  for  public  pur 
poses — District  of  Columbia ;  Alexandria  retroceded  to  Virginia — Description  of 
the  city  of  Washington. 

IT  may  be  recollected  that,  in  the  first  number  of  these 
papers,  I  mentioned,  as  one  of  their  objects,  to  give  publicity 
to  such  remaining  memorials  of  Washington  as  might  be 
brought  to  my  knowledge  in  visiting  different  parts  of  the 
country,  for  the  purpose  of  repeating  my  discourse  on  his 
character.  With  this  object  in  view,  three  papers  of  the 
series  have  been  devoted  to  an  account  of  his  journey  in  the 
Eastern  States  in  1789,  as  related  in  his  own  Diary,  lately 
printed  for  private  circulation.  On  occasion  of  a  late  visit  to 
Eichmond,  Virginia,  I  learned  from  my  friend  Mr.  Jno.  R. 
Thompson,  the  Editor  of  the  Southern  Literary  Messenger, 
that  another  portion  of  the  Diary  was  in  the  possession  of 
Mr.  J.  K.  Marshall,  of  Eauquier  County  in  Virginia,  a  son  of 
the  late  Chief  Justice.  At  my  request  Mr.  Thompson  made 
application  to  Mr.  Marshall  for  the  loan  of  this  interesting 
relic,  and  for  permission  to  make  use  of  it.  This  permission 
was  kindly  and  promptly  granted,  and  the  precious  manuscript 


222  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

safely  forwarded  to  me  by  Adams'  Express,  to  which  I  am 
almost  daily  under  obligations  for  the  most  important  ser 
vices.  As  this  portion  of  the  Diary  has  never  been  printed, 
and  as  it  contains  matter  of  the  highest  interest,  I  am  per 
suaded  that  my  readers  will  thank  me  for  offering  them  an 
account  of  this  important  memorial  of  Washington  from  his 
own  pen. 

This  portion  of  the  Diary,  like  that  described  in  the  ninth 
number  of  these  papers,  is  contained  in  a  small  manuscript 
volume,  originally  bound  in  marble  paper  covers.  It  is 
seven  inches  long,  by  four  and  a  half  wide,  and  contains,  like 
its  predecessor,  sixty-six  leaves.  It  commences  where  that 
terminates,  viz.,  with  the  12th  of  March,  1790,  while  the  seat 
of  the  government  of  the  United  States  was  still  in  New 
York.  About  half  of  the  manuscript  is  occupied  by  the  daily 
occurrences  of  the  Spring  and  Summer  of  1790, — brief  mem 
oranda  of  the  despatches  received  and  forwarded,  of  confer 
ences  of  the  members  of  the  Cabinet  and  the  Vice-President, 
who  appears  to  have  been  consulted  by  the  President  in  com 
mon  with  the  Secretaries,  the  titles  of  Acts  of  Congress  sub 
mitted  for  his  signature,  the  names  of  persons  entertained  by 
him  at  dinner,  and  the  manner  in  which  he  took  his  daily  ex 
ercise.  There  is  scarce  a  line  which  does  not  throw  light  on 
his  marvellous  prudence  and  practical  wrisdom,  and  much 
curious  information  is  contained  on  matters  of  detail  in  the 
administration  of  the  government  and  the  State  of  public 
affairs,  for  which,  however,  we  have  no  room  on  the  present 
occasion. 

The  following  extract  will  show  the  circumspection  of 
President  Washington  in  receiving  strangers  : — 

"  Information  being  given  by  Mr.  Van  Berkel  [the  Dutch  Minister] 
that  Mr.  Cazenove  just  arrived  from  Holland  and  of  a  principal  mercan 
tile  House  there  had  letters  for  me  which  he  wished  to  deliver  with  his 
own  hands  and  requesting  to  know  when  he  might  be  presented  for  that 
purpose,  it  was  thought  before  this  should  be  done,  it  might  be  proper 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  223 

to  know  whether  they  were  of  a  public  nature,  and  whether  he  was  acting 
in  a  public  character.  If  so,  then  to  let  them  come  to  me  through  the 
Secretary  of  State — if  not  then  for  him  to  send  them,  that  the  purport 
might  be  known  before  he  was  introduced,  which  might  be  at  the  next 
Levee  where  he  might  be  received  and  treated  agreeably  to  the  conse 
quence  he  might  appear  to  derive  from  the  testimonial  of  the  letters.  It 
being  conceived  that  etiquette  of  this  sort  is  essential  with  all  foreigners 
to  give  respect  to  the  chief  magistrate  and  the  dignity  of  the  government, 
which  would  be  lessened  if  every  person  who  could  procure  a  letter  of 
introduction  should  be  presented  otherwise  than  at  Levee  hours  in  a 
formal  manner." 

Iii  mentioning  the  signature  of  the  bill  for  the  support  of 
the  government  for  1790,  the  President  gives  the  items  of 
appropriation  contained  in  it.  Let  them  be  quoted  for  the 
amazement  of  this  generation  ! 

"  By  this  last  [bill]  was  Grant* 

dollr     cents 

141.492—73     for  the  civil  list. 

155.537 — 72    War  department 

96.979 — 72     Invalid  Pensions 

10.000 —        President — for  contingent  services  of  government. 
147.169 — 54     for   demands   enumerated   by   the   Secretary   of    ye 
Treasy  in   wch  the  light  H°  on   Cape  Henry  is 
includd 

120—        To  Jehoiakim  McToksin 
96 —          "  James  Mathers 
96—          "  Giffard  Dally. 


551.491—71     Total  amount." 


Such  was  an  appropriation  bill  for  the  support  of  govern, 
ment  two  generations  ago  !  By  way  of  comparison,  I  subjoin 
the  official  statement  of  the  aggregate  of  the  appropriations 
made  at  the  last  session  of  Congress,  reminding  the  reader  at 
the  same  time,  that  the  bill  appropriating  several  millions  for 
the  Postal  service  failed  to  pass. 


224:          THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

Legislative,  executive,  judicial,  civil,  and  miscellaneous  10.939.365  50 

Diplomatic  and  consular 1.047.745  00 

Indian  Department,  revolutionary,  invalid,  and  other 

pensions     •  3.270.535  14 

Army  fortifications  and  Military  Academy    -     ...  15.248.657   28 

Naval  service 10.527.163  55 

Ocean  Steam  mail  service 341.229  16 


$41,374.695  63 

On  Tuesday  the  20th  of  April  the  President  started  on  a 
little  tour  through  the  Western  end  of  Long  Island,  going 
down  the  South  side  of  the  Island  and  crossing  over  to  the 
Sound,  proceeding  as  far  East  as  Huntington.  This  little 
circuit  occupied  five  days.  The  observations  of  the  President 
are  characteristically  minute  and  accurate,  but  we  have  no 
space  to  quote  them. 

The  following  extract  relates  to  a  practice,  long  since  dis 
used,  of  making  a  farewell  present  to  foreign  Ministers  on 
their  leaving  the  country.  Such  presents  are  still  inter 
changed  in  the  diplomatic  service  of  Europe ;  but  as  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States  forbids  the  American  Ministers 
to  receive  similar  presents,  they  have  long  since  ceased  to  be 
offered  to  foreign  Ministers  leaving  this  country. 

"  Fixed  with  the  Secretary  of  State  [Mr.  Jefferson]  on  the  present 
which  (according  to  the  custom  of  other  nations)  should  be  made  to 
Diplomatic  characters  when  they  return  from  that  employment  in  this 
Country — and  this  was  a  gold  medal,  suspended  to  a  gold  Chain — in 
ordinary  to  be  of  the  value  of  about  120  or  130  Guineas — Upon  enquiry 
into  the  practice  of  other  countries,  it  was  found  that  France  generally 
gave  a  gold  snuff-box  set  with  diamonds  ;  and  of  diffr.  costs  ;  to  the 
amount  generally  to  a  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  500  Louisdores — That 
England  usually  gave  to  the  same  grade  300  guineas  in  specie — and 
HolK  a  Medal  and  Chain  of  the  value  of,  in  common,  150  or  ISO  Guineas 
the  value  of  which  to  be  encreas'd  by  an  additional  weight  in  the  Chain 
when  they  wished  to  mark  a  distinguished  character. — The  reason  why 
a  Medal  and  a  Chain  was  fixed  upon  for  the  American  present,  is  that  the 
die  being  once  made  the  medals  could  at  any  time  be  struck  at  very  little 


THE  MOUNT  VEENOX  TAPEES.  225 

cost  &  the  chain  made  by  our  artizans,  which  (while  the  first  should  be 
retained  as  a  memento)  might  be  converted  into  Cash." 

Very  important  memoranda  are  made,  in  this  portion  of 
the  Diary,  on  the  subject  of  consulting  the  Senate  on  ques 
tions  of  foreign  policy,  on  the  famous  Yazoo  land  sales,  on 
the  dispositions  of  the  British  government  relative  to  the  sur 
render  of  the  Western  posts,  and  other  topics  of  importance 
in  the  politics  of  that  day.  They  are  necessarily,  though  with 
reluctance,  omitted. 

From  Sunday,  9th  of  May,  to  June  the  24th,  there  is  a 
chasm  in  the  Journal,  which  is  accounted  for  as  follows  : 

"A  severe  illness  with  which  I  was  seized  the  10th  of  this  month  and 
which  left  me  in  a  convalescent  state  for  several  weeks  after  the  violence 
of  it  had  passed,  and  little  inclination  to  do  more  than  what  duty  to  the 
public  required  at  my  hands  occasioned  a  suspension  of  this  Diary." 

The  Diary  is  resumed  on  the  24th  of  June,  and  under  the 
29th  we  find  the  following  entry,  which  I  quote  in  illustration 
of  the  statement  already  cited,  in  reference  to  the  presents  to 
foreign  Ministers. 

"  On  a  consultation  with  the  Secretary  of  State  to-day,  it  was  thought 
advisable  to  direct  him  to  provide  two  medals,  one  for  the  Marq.  de  la 
Luzerne,  formerly  Minister  Plenipo  from  France  to  the  United  States  of 
America,  and  the  other  for  Mr.  Van  Berkel,  late  Minister  from  Holland ; 
and  to  have  the  Dies  with  which  they  were  to  be  struck  in  France,  sent 
over  here. — The  cost  of  these  Medals  would  be  about  30  guineas ; — but 
the  chain  for  that  designed  for  the  Marq.  de  la  Luzerne  (on  ace1,  of  his 
attachment  and  services  to  this  country)  was  directed  to  cost  about  200 
guineas — the  other  about  100  Guin8." 

No  entry  is  made  in  the  Diary  between  the  14th  of  July, 
1790,  and  the  21st  of  March,  1791.  The  session  of  Congress 
was  prolonged  to  the  12th  of  August,  1790,  and  it  is  probable 
that  even  the  systematic  diligence  and  resolute  punctuality  of 
the  President  broke  down  under  the  incessant  labors  of  the 
10* 


226  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

office,  and  compelled  him  wholly  to  omit  these  daily  memo 
randa.  The  new  Congress  met  at  Philadelphia,  and  the  next 
entry  in  the  Diary  is  under  date  of  21st  March,  1791,  and  to 
the  following  effect : — 

"Left  Philadelphia  about  11  o'clock  to  make  a  tour  through  the 
Southern  States.  *  *  * 

In  this  tour  I  was  accompanied  by  Majr.  Jackson — My  equipage  & 
attendance  consisted  of  a  chariot  &  four  horses  drove  in  hand — a  light 
baggage-wagon  and  two  horses — four  saddle  horses  besides  a  led  one 
for  myself  and  five  servants  to  wit  my  valet  de  chambre,  two  footmen, 
Coachman  &  Postilion." 

Proceeding  through  Delaware  and  down  the  Eastern  shore 
of  Maryland,  the  President  crossed  the  bay  from  Rock-Hall 
to  Annapolis,  and  on  this  passage  appears  to  have  been  in 
great  danger.  His  own  narrative  cannot  fail  to  command  the 
reader's  attention. 

Thursday  24th.  [of  March]  Left  Chestertown  about  6  o'clock — be 
fore  nine  I  arrived  at  Rock  Hall  where  we  breakfasted  and  immediately 
after  which  we  began  to  embark — the  doing  of  which  employed  us  (for 
want  of  contrivance)  until  near  8  o'clock— and  then  one  of  my  servants 
(Paris)  &  two  horses  were  left,  notwithstanding  two  boats  in  aid  of  the 
two  ferry  Boats  were  procured.  Unluckily  embarking  on  board  a  bor 
rowed  boat  because  she  was  the  largest,  I  was  in  imminent  danger  from 
the  unskilfulness  of  the  hands  and  the  dullness  of  her  sailing,  added  to 
the  darkness  and  storminess  of  the  night — for  two  hours  after  we  hoisted 
sail,  the  wind  was  light  and  ahead — the  next  hour  was  a  stark  calm — 
after  which  the  wind  sprung  up  at  S°.  Efc.  and  increased  until  it  blew  a 
gale — about  which  time  and  after  8  o'clock  P.  M.  we  made  the  mouth 
of  the  Severn  River  (leading  up  to  Annapolis),  but  the  ignorance  of  the 
people  on  board  with  respect  to  the  navigation  run  us  aground  first  on 
Greenbury  (?)  point  from  whence  with  much  exertion  &  difficulty  we 
got  off;  &  then  having  no  knowledge  of  the  channel,  and  the  night  being 
immensely  dark  with  heavy  and  variable  squals  of  wind — constant 
lightning  and  tremendous  thunder — we  soon  grounded  again  on  what 
is  called  Homes  (?)  point  where  finding  all  efforts  in  vain,  &  not  knowing 
where  we  were,  we  remained,  not  knowing  what  might  happen,  till 
morning. 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  227 

Friday  25.  Having  lain  all  night  in  ray  Great  Coat  &  Boots,  in  a 
berth  not  long  enough  for  me  by  the  head,  &  much  cramped  ;  we  found 
ourselves  in  the  morning  within  about  one  mile  of  Annapolis  &  still  fast 
aground — Whilst  we  were  preparing  our  small  Boat  in  order  to  land  in 
it,  a  sailing  Boat  came  off  to  our  assistance  in  wch  with  the  Baggage  I 
had  on  Board  I  landed,  and  requested  Mr.  Man  at  whose  Inn  I  intended 
lodging  to  send  off  a  Boat  to  take  off  two  of  my  horses  &  chariot  which 
I  had  left  on  board  and  with  it  my  Coachman  to  see  that  it  was  properly 
done — but  by  some  mistake  the  latter  not  having  notice  of  this  order 
and  attempting  to  get  on  board  afterwards  in  a  smaller  sailing  Boat  was 
overset  and  narrowly  escaped  drowning. 

Was  informed  upon  my  arrival  (when  15  guns  were  fired)  that  all  my 
other  horses  arrived  safe  that  embarked  at  the  same  time  I  did,  about  8 
o'clock  last  night. 

Was  waited  upon  by  the  Governor  (who  came  off  in  a  boat  as  soon 
as  he  heard  I  was  on  my  passage  from  Rock-Hall  to  meet  us,  but  turned 
back  when  it  grew  dark  &  squally)  as  soon  as  I  arrived  at  Man's  tavern, 
and  was  engaged  by  him  to  dine  with  the  Citizens  of  Annapolis  this  day 
at  Man's  tavern,  and  at  his  house  tomorrow — the  first  I  accordingly  did. 

Before  dinner  I  walked  with  him,  and  several  other  gentlemen  to  the 
State  house  (which  seemed  to  be  much  out  of  repair) — the  College  of  St. 
John  at  which  there  are  about  80  students  of  every  description — and 
then  by  the  way  of  the  Governor's  (to  see  Mrs.  Howell)  home. 

It  thus  appears  that  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
travelling  with  every  facility  which  the  state  of  the  com 
munications  at  that  time  afforded,  was  five  days  in  accom 
plishing  the  journey  from  Philadelphia  to  Annapolis,  now 
easily  made  in  six  hours. 

The  city  of  Washington  was  not  yet  laid  out,  and  the 
President  pursued  his  journey  from  Annapolis  to  Georgetown, 
in  order  to  bring  the  proprietors  of  land  at  this  last-named 
city  and  Carrollsburg  (which  I  suppose  to  be  the  region  ex 
tending  east  and  west  from  Capitol  Hill)  to  terms  of  agree 
ment  as  to  the  cession  of  land  for  the  public  buildings.  Con 
trary  to  his  usual  practice,  he  went  from  Annapolis  to  Bladens- 
burg  on  Sunday,  and  dined  and  lodged  there.  The  following 
day  he  was  met  by  a  large  party  of  citizens  from  Georgetown, 
headed  by  Mr.  Thomas  Corcoran,  (Father  of  Mr.  William  W. 


228  THE  MOUNT  VERXOX  PAPEES. 

Corcoran  of  Washington  city,)  by  whom  he  was  addressed, 
and  was  by  them  escorted  to  Georgetown,  where  he  arrived 
at  an  early  hour. 

His  first  care  on  arrival  was  to  examine  the  surveys  of  Mr. 
Ellicott,  who  had  been  appointed  "  to  survey  the  district  of 
ten  miles  square  for  the  federal  seat,  and  also  the  works  of 
Majr.  L'Enfant,  who  had  been  engaged  to  examine  and  make 
a  draught  of  the  grounds  in  the  vicinity  of  Georgetown  and 
Carrollsburg  on  the  Eastern  Branch."  The  President  made 
arrangements  to  examine  them  himself  the  following  day,  and 
attended  a  public  dinner  given  by  the  Corporation  at  Suter's 
tavern,  where  he  lodged.  At  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning 
of  the  29th,  "  in  a  thick  mist  and  under  a  strong  appearance 
of  a  settled  rain  (which  however  did  not  happen) "  he  set 
out  to  institute  this  examination,  but  from  the  unfavorable- 
ness  of  the  day  he  "  derived  no  great  satisfaction  from  the 
Review." 

Finding  the  landholders  of  Georgetown  and  Carrollsburg 
"  at  variance  with  each  other,  and  that  their  fears  and  jealousies 
were  counteracting  the  public  purposes  and  might  prove  in 
jurious  to  its  best  interests,"  the  President  invited  a  confer 
ence  of  those  concerned,  and  succeeded  in  bringing  them  to 
unite  in  a  satisfactory  arrangement.  The  proprietors  alluded 
to  agreed  "  to  surrender  for  public  purposes  one-half  of  the 
land  they  severally  possessed  within  bounds  which  were  de 
signed  as  necessary  for  the  City." 

Thus  were  the  District  of  Columbia,  ten  miles  square,  and 
the  City  of  Washington,  laid  out.  The  District  originally 
contained  the  Cities  of  Washington  and  Georgetown  on  the 
Maryland  side  of  the  Potomac,  and  the  City  of  Alexandria  on 
the  Virginia  side.  Such  an  arrangement  was  not  indicated  by 
the  geography  of  the  region,  though  wearing  in  theory  and  on 
paper  an  agreeable  appearance.  The  citizens  of  Alexandria, 
after  fifty  years'  experience  of  Congressional  government, 
prayed  to  be  restored  to  the  genial  tutelage  of  their  parent 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

State :  and  all  that  part  of  the  District  lying  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Potomac  was  a  few  years  since  retroceded  to 
Virginia. 

The  situation  of  Washington  is  of  unsurpassed  beauty 
for  an  inland  town.  The  sweep  of  the  river,  as  you  look 
from  the  balcony  of  the  library  on  the  Western  front  of 
the  Capitol,  the  line  of  the  Virginia  hills  beyond,  especially 
when  seen  in  the  early  part  of  the  day,  the  encircling  heights 
which  stretch  from  Georgetown  round  to  the  North,  destined 
at  no  distant  period  to  be  crowned  with  all  the  beauties  of 
villa  architecture,  forest,  and  garden,  (this  anticipation  has 
begun  to  be  realized,)  the  noble  streets  and  avenues  before 
and  beneath  the  eye,  lined  already  in  many  places  with  stately 
private  dwellings  and  magnificent  public  edifices,  form  alto 
gether  a  panorama  of  extreme  richness.  Some  errors  no 
doubt  may  be  pointed  out  by  a  fastidious  taste  in  the  plan  of 
the  city.  Desolate  spaces,  neglected  amorphous  spots,  abor 
tive  attempts  at  premature  display, — the  necessary  incidents 
of  a  town  called  into  being,  in  the  first  instance,  by  the  exi 
gencies  of  the  public  service,  and  sustained  by  a  government 
patronage  alternately  profuse  and  parsimonious, — offend  the 
eye  on  a  close  survey  of  the  national  Capital.  But  for 
natural  advantages,  beauty  of  position,  the  rapid  progress 
already  made  in  the  comforts  and  refinements  of  social  life, 
and  in  its  capacity  for  almost  indefinite  improvement,  under 
the  fostering  care  of  a  paternal  government,  Washington  fully 
justifies  the  interest  taken  by  its  illustrious  Founder  in  its 
selection  as  the  seat  of  republican  empire. 


NUMBER   TWENTY-FIVE. 

WASHINGTON'S     SOUTHERN    TOUR. 

Washington's  Southern  tour  in  1791  less  known  than  his  Eastern  tour  in  1789 — De 
parture  from  Mount  Vernon  7th  of  April — Accident  in  crossing  the  ferry  at  Col 
chester—  Fredericksburgh— Richmond— Locks  in  the  James  Eiver  Canal— State 
of  public  opinion  in  Virginia  on  the  assumption  of  the  State  debts  and  the  Excise 
jaw — Petersburgh  and  the  President's  account  of  it — Innocent  artifice  to  escape 
an  escort — Halifax,  N.  Carolina — No  stabling  at  Allen's — Arrival  at  Newbern  and 
description  of  that  place— Its  present  condition  and  appearance— Arrival  at  Wil 
mington  and  account  of  that  place — The  mode  of  taking  the  first  census  described 
by  Washington — Present  condition  of  Wilmington — Recent  visit  of  the  writer  to 
North  Carolina— Its  general  prosperity — Kaleigh — Chapel  Hill. 

OF  Washington's  Southern  Tour  little  in  detail  has  been 
published.  Of  his  tour  in  the  Eastern  States,  two  years  be 
fore,  some  of  the  incidents,  and  particularly  his  relations  with 
John  Hancock  at  Boston,  attracted  general  notice  at  the  time, 
and  have  been  narrated  at  some  length  in  different  publica 
tions.  They  furnish  the  matter  of  several  pages  in  General 
Sullivan's  "  Familiar  Letters  "  in  Mr.  Sparks'  edition  of"  the 
Writings  of  Washington,"  and  in  the  volume  of  Mr.  Irving's 
Life  of  Washington  just  issued  from  the  press.  In  addition 
to  this,  that  portion  of  the  Diary  of  Washington  which  con 
tains  the  account  of  his  Western  tour,  had  within  the  past 
twelvemonth,  as  the  readers  of  these  papers  have  seen,  been 
printed  for  private  circulation. 

Of  the  Southern  tour,  equally  interesting  in  itself,  much 
less  has  been  said.  It  has  been  dismissed  with  a  single  para 
graph  in  the  Standard  lives,  and  the  portion  of  the  Diary 
which  contains  the  record  of  it,  and  which,  as  stated  in  my 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  231 

last  number,  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  James  K.  Mar 
shall  of  Fauquier  County,  Virginia,  (a  son  of  the  venerable 
Chief  Justice,)  has  never  been  committed  to  the  press.  I 
have  for  these  reasons  felt  confident,  that  I  should  gratify  the 
reader  by  copious  extracts  from  this  portion  of  the  Diary, 
containing  as  they  do  the  impressions  of  its  illustrious  author 
recorded  at  the  time,  as  to  the  principal  cities  in  the  Southern 
States  of  the  Union,  and  the  various  occurrences  of  his  tour. 

Having  completed  the  business  which  engaged  his  atten 
tion  at  Georgetown,  as  related  in  my  last  number,  the  Presi 
dent,  on  the  30th  of  March,  1791,  left  that  city,  dined  at  Alex 
andria,  and  reached  Mount  Vernon  in  the  evening.  Here  he 
remained  one  week,  "  visiting  his  Plantations  every  day,"  and 
on  the  7th  of  April  recommenced  his  "  journey,  with  horses 
apparently  well  refreshed,  and  in  good  spirits."  On  crossing 
the  ferry  at  Colchester,  with  the  four  horses  hitched  to  the 
chariot,  by  the  neglect  of  the  person  who  stood  before  them, 
one  of  the  leaders  got  overboard,  when  the  boat  was  in  swim 
ming  water  and  fifty  yards  from  the  shore.  With  much  diffi 
culty  he  escaped  from  drowning  before  he  could  be  disen 
gaged.  His  struggles  frightened  the  other  horses  in  such  a 
manner,  that  one  after  another  in  quick  succession  they  all  got 
overboard,  harnessed  and  fastened  as  they  were.  With  the 
utmost  difficulty  they  were  saved,  and  the  carriage  escaped 
being  dragged  after  them.  "  The  whole  of  it,"  says  the 
Diary,  "  happened  in  swimming  water  and  at  a  distance  from 
the  shore.  Providentially, — indeed  miraculously,  by  the  ex 
ertions  of  People  who  went  off  in  boats  and  jumped  in  the 
river  as  soon  as  the  Batteau  was  forced  into  wading  water — 
no  damage  was  sustained  by  the  horses,  carriage,  or  harness." 
The  President  this  day  dined  at  Dumfries  — "  after  which," 
says  the  Diary,  "  I  visited  &  drank  tea  with  my  niece  Mrs. 
Tho's  Lee." 

Starting  at  G  o'clock  the  following  day,  the  President 
breakfasted  at  Stafford  Court  House,  "  and  dined  and  lodged," 


232  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

says  the  entry,  "  at  my  sister  Lewis's  in  Fredericksburg." 
Saturday  the  9th  was  appropriated  to  "  a  public  entertain 
ment  given  by  the  Citizens  of  the  town."  On  the  following 
day,  Sunday  the  10th,  he  breakfasted  with  General  Spots- 
wood,  dined  at  the  Bowling  Green,  and  lodged  at  Kenner's 
tavern  ;  in  all  a  journey  of  thirty -five  miles.  He  reached 
Richmond  to  dinner  on  the  llth  at  3  o'clock,  having  "  break 
fasted  at  one  Rawlings's "  by  the  way.  On  his  arrival  ho 
"  was  saluted  by  the  Cannon  of  the  place — waited  on  by  the 
governor  &  other  gentlemen — &  saw  the  city  illuminated  by 
night." 

The  President  remained  in  Richmond  from  Sunday,  the 
day  of  his  arrival,  till  Thursday.  His  first  care  was  to  in 
spect  the  locks  on  the  James  River  Canal,  a  work  in  which 
he  ever  took  the  deepest  interest.  He  records  with  evident 
satisfaction  the  impressions  made  upon  his  mind,  chiefly  by 
Col.  Carrington,  the  marshal  of  the  district,  with  reference  to 
the  popularity  of  the  general  government.  He  "  could  not 
discover  that  any  discontents  prevail  among  the  people  at  the 
proceedings  of  Congress.  The  conduct  of  the  assembly  re 
specting  the  assumption  "  [of  the  state  debts]  "  he  (Col.  Car 
rington)  thinks,  is  condemned  by  the  people  as  intemperate 
&  unwise,  and  he  seems  to  have  no  doubt  but  the  Excise  law 
— as  it  is  called — may  be  executed  without  difficulty,  nay 
more  that  it  will  become  popular  in  a  little  time."  Col.  Car 
rington  evidently  painted  things  couleur  rose.  On  Wednes 
day  the  President  attended  a  public  entertainment  given  by 
the  Corporation  of  Richmond.  "  The  buildings  in  this  place," 
he  remarks,  "  have  encreascd  a  good  deal  since  I  was  here 
last  but  they  are  not  of  the  best  kind.  The  number  of  Souls 
in  the  City  are ."  A  blank  is  here  left  as  in  other  simi 
lar  cases  for  more  accurate  information.  The  industry  of 
Richmond  in  all  its  branches  was  then  in  its  infancy,  and 
those  topics  which  usually  occupy  so  much  of  the  President's 
attention  are  not  mentioned. 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  233 

The  next  day,  Thursday  the  14th,  he  went  to  Petersburg. 
Passing  through  Manchester  he  "  received  a  salute  from 
Cannon  &  an  escort  of  horse,  under  the  command  of  Capt. 
David  Meade  Randolph,  as  far  as  Osborne's,  where  "  he  "  was 
met  by  the  Petersburgh  Horse  &  escorted  to  that  place  & 
partook  of  a  public  dinner  given  by  the  Mayor  and  Corpora 
tion  &  went  to  an  assembly  in  the  evening  *  *  at  which 
there  were  between  sixty  &  seventy  ladies."  The  President's 
account  of  Petersburg  is  in  the  following  terms  : 

"Petersburgh  which  is  said  to  contain  near  3000  souls  is  well  situated 
for  trade  at  present,  but  Avhen  the  James  River  navigation  is  compleated 
&  the  cut  from  Elizabeth  river  to  Pasquotanck  is  effected,  it  must  decline 
&  that  very  considerably.  At  present  it  receives  at  the  Inspections 
nearly  a  third  of  the  Tobacco  exported  from  the  whole  State  besides  a 
considerable  quantity  of  Wheat  &  Flour — much  of  the  former  being 
manufactured  at  the  mills  near  The  town — Chief  of  the  buildings  in  this 
town  are  under  the  hill  &  unpleasantly  situated  but  the  heights  around  it 
are  agreeable. 

"The  Road  from  Richmond  to  this  place  passes  through  a  poor 
Country  principally  covered  with  Pine,  except  the  interval  lands  on  tho 
River  which  we  left  on  our  Left." 

The  President's  anticipations  of  the  falling  off  of  Peters 
burg  from  a  population  of  3,000  have  not  been  fulfilled.  By 
the  census  of  1850,  it  was  14,010,  a  trifle  smaller  than  that  of 
Norfolk.  It  cannot  at  this  time  be  much  if  any  below  twenty 
thousand. 

On  Friday  the  15th  the  President  started  from  Peters 
burg,  practicing  a  little  artifice  as  to  the  time  of  his  departure, 
of  which  I  recollect  no  other  instance  in  his  whole  career,  and 
which,  involving  no  departure  from  the  strictest  truth,  and 
resorted  to  for  the  best  of  reasons,  will  not  be  blamed.  It  is 
described  in  the  following  words  : — 

"Friday  15th.  Having  suffered  very  much  by  the  dust  yesterday — 
and  finding  that  parties  of  Horse  and  a  number  of  other  gentlemen  were 
intending  to  attend  me  part  of  the  way  to-day,  I  caused  their  enquiries 


234  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

respecting  the  time  of  my  setting  out,  to  be  answered  that  I  should  en 
deavor  to  do  it  before  8  o'clock,  but  did  it  a  little  after  five,  by  which 
means  I  avoided  the  inconvenience  above  mentioned." 

This  day  the  President  breakfasted  after  travelling  twelve 
miles  at  "  one  Jesse  Lee's,  a  tavern  newly  set  up  on  a  small 
scale,"  and  proceeding  fifteen  miles  further  dined  and  lodged 
"  at  the  House  of  one  Oliver,  which  is  a  good  one  for  horses 
&  where  there  are  tolerable  clean  beds.  For  want  of  proper 
stages  "  he  "  could  go  no  further." 

The  President  started  the  next  day  at  about  5  o'clock, 
and  travelling  most  of  the  time  under  a  heavy  rain,  was  com 
pelled,  for  want  of  stopping  places,  to  proceed  as  far  as  Hali 
fax  in  North  Carolina,  a  distance  of  forty-eight  miles,  arriving 
at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening.  He  passed  the  following  day, 
Sunday  the  17th,  at  Halifax,  which  he  describes  as  "  a  place 
said  to  contain  a  thousand  souls  &  apparently  in  a  decline." 
At  the  invitation  of  Colonel  Ashe,  (the  representative  of  the 
district  in  which  Halifax  was  situated,)  and  several  other  gen 
tlemen,  General  Washington  attended  a  public  dinner  at  that 
place. 

On  Monday  the  19th  the  President  started  at  six  o'clock, 
"  dined  at  a  small  house  kept  by  one  Slaughter  twenty  two 
miles  from  Halifax,  &  lodged  at  Tarborough  fourteen  miles 
further.  We  were  received  at  this  place "  the  President 
benignantly  remarks,  "  by  as  good  a  salute  as  could  be  given 
with  one  piece  of  artillery."  On  the  following  day  (19th  April) 
they  "  dined  at  a  trifling  place  called  Greenville  25  miles  dis 
tant  &  lodged  at  one  Allans  14  miles  further,  a  very  indiffer 
ent  house,  without  stabling  [for  the  horses],  which  for  the 
first  time  since  I  commenced  my  Journey  were  obliged  to 
stand  without  a  cover." 

The  President  left  Allan's  on  the  20th  before  breakfast, 
and  "  under  a  misapprehension  went  to  a  Col"  Allan's,  sup 
posing  it  to  be  a  public  house,  where  we  were  very  kindly  & 
well  entertained  without  knowing  it  was  at  his  expense  until 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  235 

it  was  too  late  to  rectify  the  mistake."  They  crossed  the 
Neuse  at  a  ferry  ten  miles  from  Newbern,  were  they  arrived 
to  dinner  and  were  exceedingly  well  lodged. 

"  This  town,"  says  the  President,  "  is  situated  at  the  confluence  of  the 
Nuse  and  Trent,  and  though  low  is  pleasant.  Vessels  drawing  more  than 
nine  feet  of  water  cannot  get  up  loaded.  It  stands  on  a  good  deal  of 
ground,  but  the  buildings  are  sparse  &  altogether  of  wood ;  some  of 
which  are  large  &  look  well.  The  number  of  souls  are  about  2000.  Its 
exports  consist  of  Corn,  Tobacco  &  Pork, — but  principally  of  naval  stores 
&  lumber. 

Thursday  21st.  Dined  with  the  citizens  at  a  public  dinner  given  by 
them  &  went  to  a  dancing  assembly  in  the  Evening, — both  of  which  was 
at  what  they  call  the  pallace — formerly  the  government  house  &  a  good 
brick  building  but  now  hastening  to  ruins.  The  company  at  both  was 
numerous — at  the  latter  there  were  about  70  ladies." 

Newbern  still,  as  in  General  Washington's  time,  "  though 
low  is  pleasant."  Its  population  by  the  Census  of  1850  was 
4,681,  and  is  now  considerably  increased.  It  has  a  railroad 
connection  with  Beaufort  and  Goldsboro',  and  with  the  main 
lines  which  traverse  the  State.  Its  once  splendid  Palace, 
erected  by  the  ostentatious  Tryon,  and  ruinous  in  President 
Washington's  days,  has  vanished  from  the  face  of  the  earth ; 
— an  open  street  passes  over  the  site ;  but  the  substantial 
brick  stables  remain.  The  grass-grown  streets,  shaded  by 
elms  and  lined  with  gardens,  give  to  Newbern  an  air  of  re 
pose,  which  reminds  you  of  some  of  the  small  German  resi 
dences.  The  situation  at  the  confluence  of  the  Trent  and  the 
Neuse  is  magnificent.  The  traditional  culture  of  a  provincial 
metropolis  is  visible  at  Newbern ;  and  the  honored  memory 
of  Judge  Gaston  is  freshly  cherished.  But  I  have  experienced 
its  hospitable  welcome  too  recently  to  speak  of  it  with  im 
partiality.  I  had  the  pleasure  on  the  12th  of  April  of  repeat 
ing  my  discourse  on  the  character  of  the  great  man  whose 
visit  I  am  now  recording,  to  a  crowded  audience,  and  with  a 
net  receipt,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Mount  Vernon  Fund,  of 
$593. 


236  THE  MOUNT  VEBNON  PAPEKS. 

The  President  left  Newbern  on  the  22d  April,  "  under  an 
escort  of  horse  &  many  of  the  principal  gentlemen,"  dined  at 
a  place  called  Trenton,  at  the  head  of  the  boat  navigation  of 
the  Trent,  crossed  that  river  on  a  bridge,  and  "  lodged  at  one 
Shrine's  10  miles  further — both  indifferent  houses."  On  the 
23d,  "  breakfasted  at  one  Everet's  32  miles,  bated  at  a  Mr. 
Foy's  12  miles  further  &  lodged  at  one  Sages  20  miles  be 
yond  it, — all  indifferent  houses." 

On  Sunday  the  24th  the  President  "  breakfasted  at  an  in 
different  house  about  13  miles  from  Sage's  &  three  miles 
further  met  a  party  of  Light  Horse  from  Wilmington,  & 
after  them,  a  committee  and  other  gentlemen  of  the  town, 
at  which  he  arrived,  under  a  federal  salute,  at  very  good 
lodgings  about  two  o'clock.  Here  says  he,  "  I  dined  with 
the  committee  whose  company  I  asked."  The  country  bc- 
twen  Newbern  and  Wilmington  is  described  by  the  Presi 
dent  as  being,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  places,  the  most 
barren  he  ever  beheld,  especially  in  the  parts  nearest  Wil 
mington,  where  it  is  "  no  other  than  a  bed  of  white  sand." 
In  some  places  however,  "  if  ideas  of  poverty  could  be  sep 
arated  from  the  land,  the  appearances  of  it  are  agreeable,  re 
sembling  a  lawn  well  covered  with  evergreens  and  a  good 
verdure  below,  from  a  broom  of  coarse  grass,  which  having 
sprung  up  since  the  burning  of  the  woods  had  a  neat  and 
handsome  look,  especially  as  there  were  parts  entirely  open 
&  others  with  ponds  of  water,  which  contributed  not  a  little 
to  the  beauty  of  the  scene." 

"  Wilmington,"  says  the  President,  "  is  situated  on  Cape  Fear  River, 
about  30  miles  by  water  from  its  mouth,  but  much  less  by  land.  It  has 
some  good  houses  pretty  compactly  built. — The  whole  under  a  hill  which 
is  formed  entirely  of  sand.  The  number  of  souls  in  it  amount  by  enu 
meration  to  about  1000,  but  it  is  agreed  on  all  hands  that  the  Census  in 
this  State  has  been  very  inaccurately  &  shamefully  taken  by  the  Mar 
shall's  deputies ;  who  instead  of  going  to  Peoples  houses,  and  there  on 
the  spot,  ascertaining  the  nos.  have  advertised  a  meeting  of  them  at 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  237 

certain  places,  by  which  means  those  who  did  not  attend  (and  it  seems 
many  purposely  avoided  doing  it,  some  from  an  apprehension  of  its  being 
introductory  to  a  tax  &  others  from  religious  scruples)  have  gone  with 
their  families  unnumbered.  In  other  instances  it  is  said  that  these  deputies 
have  taken  their  information  from  the  Captains  of  Militia  companies ; 
not  only  as  to  the  men  on  their  muster  rolls,  but  of  the  souls  in  their  re 
spective  families,  which  at  best  must,  in  a  variety  of  cases  be  mere  con 
jecture,  whilst  all  those  who  are  not  on  their  lists,  widows  &  their 
families  &c  pass  unnoticed. 

Wilmington  unfortunately  for  it  has  a  mud  bank  miles  below 

over  which  not  more  than  ten  feet  of  Water  can  be  brought  at  common 
tides  ;  yet  it  is  said  vessels  of  250  tons  have  come  up.  The  qty  of  ship 
ping  which  load  here  annually  amounts  to  about  12,000  tons.  The  ex 
ports  consist  chiefly  of  Naval  stores  and  lumber.  Some  Tobacco,  corn, 
Rice  &  Flax  Seed  with  Porke.  It  is  the  head  of  the  tide  navigation,  but 
inland  navigation  may  be  extended  115  miles  farther  to  and  above 
Fayette's  ville  which  is  from  Wilmington  90  miles  by  land  and  115  by 
water  as  above."  *  *  * 

Monday  25th,  Dined  with  the  citizens  of  the  place,  at  a  public  dinner 
given  by  them — went  to  a  Ball  in  the  evening  at  which  there  were  62 
ladies, — illuminations,  bonfires  &c. — 

The  population  of  Wilmington  by  the  census  of  1850  was 
7,264.  In  the  period  which  has  since  elapsed,  and  under  the 
stimulus  of  the  railroads  which  connect  it  Avith  the  con 
terminous  States  North  and  South,  it  has  greatly  increased, 
and  amounts  no  doubt  at  the  present  time  to  ten  or  twelve 
thousand.  Its  natural  features  have  of  course  not  changed 
since  President  Washington's  time ;  the  "  mud  bank  "  still 
obstructs  the  navigation,  and  has  as  yet  been  attacked  with 
but  partial  success,  under  liberal  appropriations  of  the  federal 
government.  Wilmington  is  however  the  seat  of  an  active 
trade  in  the  staples  of  the  country.  Its  population,  as  far  as 
I  was  able  to  judge  from  a  short  visit,  intelligent,  enterpriz- 
ing,  and  rather  more  than  usually  harmonious  among  them 
selves.  The  river  prospects  from  elevated  positions  are  re 
markably  fine.  An  immense  audience,  assembled  in  Thalian 
Hall  on  the  llth  April  last,  honored  the  repetition  of  my 


238  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEES. 

address  on  the  character  of  Wilmington,  and  the  net  receipts 
of  the  evening,  $1091  80-100,  were,  in  proportion  to  the 
population,  far  beyond  those  of  any  other  place  in  the  Union. 
I  reserve  for  another  paper  the  account  of  the  President's 
tour  in  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  of  which  as  of  his  tour  in 
Virginia  arid  North  Carolina,  scarce  any  thing  has  hitherto 
been  published.  I  may  be  permitted,  by  way  of  filling  up 
this  Number,  to  say  that  nowhere  have  my  anticipations  of 
an  agreeable  tour  been  more  completely  fulfilled  than  in  the 
last  named  State.  In  the  course  of  a  week  I  visited  Wilming 
ton,  Newbern,  Raleigh,  and  Chapel-Hill,  speaking  at  each  of 
those  places.  Communications  between  the  principal  places 
in  North  Carolina  is  rendered  expeditious  by  about  eight 
hundred  miles  of  railroad,  traversing  the  Eastern  and  cen 
tral  portions  of  the  State.  It  was  not  in  my  power  to  visit 
the  mineral  district  about  Charlotte  or  the  mountain  region 
of  the  West,  which  form  a  very  important  and  attractive  por 
tion  of  the  territory.  I  have  already  said  a  few  words  of 
Newbern  and  Wilmington.  Raleigh,  the  political  metropolis 
of  the  State,  and  Chapel-Hill,  the  seat  of  the  University  of 
North  Carolina,  honored  my  address  with  crowded  and  favor 
ing  audiences.  The  net  receipts  at  the  former  were  $515;  at 
the  latter  $615  60-100.  I  found  at  both  places  a  highly  in 
telligent  social  circle.  Raleigh  was  adorned  at  very  great 
expense  to  the  State,  with  a  superb  statue  of  Washington  by 
Canova,  at  a  time  when,  if  I  mistake  not,  with  the  exception 
of  Houdon's,  there  was  no  other  statue  of  Washington  in  the 
United  States.  It  was  unfortunately  destroyed  by  fire  when 
the  Capitol  was  burned  a  few  years  since.  A  copy  of  Hubard's 
cast  from  Houdon's  Washington  has  lately  been  placed  in  the 
Capitol  grounds.  Raleigh  itself  constitutes,  in  its  name,  the 
noblest  monument  to  the  illustrious  but  unfortunate  pioneer 
of  North  American  colonization.  It  will  preserve  his  gallant 
deeds  and  generous  traits  of  character  in  honored  remem. 
brance,  ages  after  the  crowned  pedant  who  sent  him  to  the 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNCXN  PAPERS.  239 

block  is  recollected  only  to  be  despised.  The  University  at 
Chapel-Hill  is  second  to  none  of  the  Southern  Seminaries, 
except  the  University  of  Virginia,  in  the  number  of  its 
Students,  and  it  stands  in  well  earned  high  repute  as  a  place 
of  education. 


NUMBER  TWENTY-SIX. 

WASHINGTON'S    SOUTHERN    TOUR    CONCLUDED. 

Departure  from  "Wilmington — The  Swash  crossed — Arrival  at  Georgetown,  S.  C. — 
Capt.  Alston's  plantation — Description  of  Georgetown — Arrival  at  Charleston  and 
reception  and  festivities  there — Description  of  Charleston — No  mention  of  cotton 
among  the  exports — Journey  resumed  on  the  9th  of  May — Mrs.  Gen.  Green — Arri 
val  at  Savannah — Military  operations  in  1779 — Savannah  described — Eoad  through 
Waynesborough  to  Augusta — Eeception  at  Augusta — Description  of  that  place — 
Eeturn  to  the  North  by  the  way  of  Columbia,  Camden,  Charlotte,  Salisbury,  and 
Salem. 

HAVING  sent  his  horses  across  the  river  the  day  before 
the  President  started  for  Charleston  on  the  26th  of  April, 
1791,  breakfasted  at  Mr.  Ben  Smith's,  and  lodged  at  one 
Kuss's,  "  an  indifferent  house,"  having  made  but  twenty-five 
miles.  On  the  following  day  the  party  breakfasted  at  Wil 
liam  Gause's,  dined  at  a  private  house,  ('  one  Cochran's)  and 
lodged  at  Mr.  Vareen's,  '  two  miles  short  of  the  long  bay.' 
"  To  this  house,"  says  the  Diary,  "  we  were  directed  as  a 
tavern,  but  the  proprietor  of  it  either  did  not  keep  one,  or 
wrould  not  acknowledge  it.  We  therefore  were  entertained 
(&  very  kindly)  without  being  able  to  make  compensation." 

The  following  day  they  were  piloted  by  Col.  Vareen 
across  the  Swash,  (which  at  high  water  is  impassable  and  at 
times,  by  the  shifting  of  the  sands,  is  dangerous,)  to  the  long 
beach  of  the  ocean.  The  tide  being  favorable,  the  party  fol 
lowed  the  beach  to  the  place  for  leaving  it,  an  estimated 
distance  of  sixteen  miles.  They  dined  at  Mr.  Pauley's,  a 
private  house,  and  "  being  met  on  the  road  &  kindly  invited 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  241 

by  a  Dr.  Flagg,"  they  lodged  there,  after  a  day's  journey  of 
thirty-three  miles. 

The  record  of  the  29th  is  as  follows  : — 

"  We  left  Dr.  Flagg's  at  about  6  o'clock  and  arrived  at  Captain  Win. 
Alston's  on  the  Waggamaw  to  breakfast.  Captain  Alston  is  a  gentleman 
of  large  fortune  and  esteemed  one  of  the  neatest  Rice  planters  in  the 
State  of  S°.  Carolina  and  the  proprietor  of  some  of  the  most  valuable 
•grounds  for  the  culture  of  this  article. — His  house  which  is  large,  new^ 
and  elegantly  furnished  stands  on  a  sand-hill,  high  for  the  Country,  with 
his  rice  fields  below;  the  contrast  of  which  with  the  lands  back  of  it  and 
the  Sand  &  piney  barrens  through  which  we  had  passed  is  scarcely  to 
be  conceived." 

The  President  was  met  at  Capt.  Alston's  by  General 
Moultrie,  Col.  Washington,  and  Mr.  Rutledge,  (son  of  the 
chief  justice  of  S.  Carolina,)  who  had  come  out  to  escort  him 
to  Georgetown.  The  next  day  they  crossed  the  river,  after  a 
descent  of  three  miles  "  under  a  salute  of  cannon  &  by  a  com 
pany  of  infantry  handsomely  uniformed."  The  President 
dined  with  the  citizens  in  public,  and  "  in  the  afternoon  was 
introduced  to  upwards  of  fifty  ladies,  who  had  assembled  (at  a 
tea  party)  for  the  occasion." 

"Georgetown,"  says  the  Diary,  "seems  to  be  in  the  shade  of  Charles 
ton —  It  suffered  through  the  war  by  the  British,  hav'g  had  many  of 
its  houses  burnt.  It  is  situated  on  a  peninsula  between  the  river  Wacca- 
maw  and  Sumpter  Creek  about  15  miles  from  the  sea — a  bar  is  to  be 
passed,  over  which  not  more  than  12  feet  of  water  can  be  bro't  except 
at  Spring  tides  ;  which  (tho'  the  inhabitants  are  willing  to  entertain  dif 
ferent  ideas)  must  ever  be  a  considerable  let  to  its  importance  ;  especial 
ly  if  the  cut  between  the  Santee  &  Cowper  Rivers  should  ever  be  accom 
plished. 

"  The  inhabitants  of  this  place  (either  unwilling  or  unable)  could  give 
no  account  of  the  number  of  souls  in  it,  but  I  should  not  compute  them 
at  more  than  5  or  600.  Its  chief  export  Rice." 

The  population  of  Georgetown  by  the  Census  of  1850  was 
1628. 

11 


242  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEKS. 

On  Sunday,  1st  of  May,  the  party  left  Georgetown,  and 
crossing  the  Santee  River  at  a  distance  of  twelve  miles,  break 
fasted  and  dined  at  Mrs.  Horry's,  about  fifteen  miles  from 
Georgetown,  "  &  lodged  at  the  plantation  of  Mr.  Manigold 
about  twelve  miles  further." 

On  the  2d  of  May,  the  party  breakfasted  at  the  country 
seat  of  Gov.  Pinckney,  about  eighteen  miles  from  the  place 
wThere  they  had  lodged,  and  then  came  to  the  ferry  at  Haddrel's 
point,  six  miles  further,  where  they  were  met  by  the  Recor 
der  of  the  city,  Gen.  Pinckney,  and  Edward  Rutledge,  Esq. 
in  a  twelve  oared  barge,  rowed  by  twelve  American  captains 
of  ships,  most  elegantly  dressed.  There  wrere  a  great  number 
of  other  boats  with  gentlemen  and  ladies  in  them,  and  two 
boats  with  music  : 

"All  of  -which,"  says  the  Diary  of  the  President,  "attended  me 
across ;  &  on  the  passage  were  met  by  a  number  of  others.  As  we  ap 
proached  the  town  a  salute  of  artillery  commenced,  and  at  the  wharf  I 
was  met  Dy  the  Governor,  the  IA  Governor,  the  Intend',  of  the  city,  the 
two  Senators  of  the  State,  Wardens  of  the  city,  Cincinnati,  &c.  &c.  and 
conducted  to  the  Exchange  where  they  passed  by  in  procession — from 
whence  I  was  conducted  in  like  manner  to  my  lodgings, — after  which 
I  dined  at  the  Governor's  (in  what  he  called  a  private  way)  with  15  or 
18  gentlemen"  *  *  * 

"  The  lodgings  provided  for  me  in  this  place  were  very  good — being 
the  furnished  house  of  a  Gentleman  at  present  in  the  Country ;  but  oc 
cupied  by  a  person  placed  there  on  purpose  to  accommodate  me,  and 
who  was  paid  in  the  same  manner  as  any  other  letter  of  Lodgings  would 
have  been  paid." 

"  Tuesday  the  3d  breakfasted  with  Mrs.  Rutledge  (the  Lady  of  the 
chief  justice  of  the  State  who  was  on  the  Circuits)  and  dined  with  the 
citizens  at  a  public  dinr.  given  by  them  at  the  Exchange. 

"  Was  visited  at  about  2  o'clock,  by  a  great  number  of  the  most  res 
pectable  Ladies  of  Charleston — the  first  honor  of  the  kind  I  ever  had 
experienced  &  it  was  as  flattering  as  it  was  singular." 

"  Wednesday  the  4th.  Dined  with  the  members  of  the  Cincinnati, 
and  in  the  evening  went  to  a  very  elegant  dancing  Assembly  at  the  Ex 
change, — at  which  were  256  elegantly  dressed  &  handsome  ladies." 

"In  the  forenoon  (indeed  before  breakfast  to  day)  I  visited  and  ex- 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  243 

amined  the  lines  of  attack  &  defence  of  the  city  &  was  satisfied  that  the 
defence  was  noble  &  honorable  altho  the  measure  was  undertaken  upon 
wrong  principles  and  impolitic." 

"Thursday  the  5th.  Visited  the  works  of  Fort  Johnson  on  James' 
Island  &  Fort  Moultree  on  Sullivan's  Island ;  both  of  which  are — in 
Ruins ;  and  scarcely  a  trace  of  the  latter  left — the  former  quite  fallen. 

"Dined  with  a  very  large  company  at  the  Governor's  and  in  the  Even 
ing  went  to-a  Concert  at  the  Exchange  at  wch  there  were  at  least  400 
ladies — the  number  and  appearance  of  wch  exceeded  anything  of  the 
kind  I  had  ever  seen." 

On  Friday  the  6th,  the  President  rode  through  the  princi 
pal  streets  of  Charleston,  dined  at  Major  Butler's,  and  went 
to  a  ball  in  the  evening,  at  the  Governor's,  "  where  there  was 
a  select  company  of  ladies."  On  Saturday,  the  7th,  he 
visited  the  Orphan  House  before  breakfast,  "  where  there 
were  107  boys  &  girls."  He  also  viewed  the  city  from  the 

balcony  of  • church,  "  from  whence  the  whole  is  seen  in 

one  view  to  great  advantage,  the  gardens  &  green  trees  which 
are  interspersed  adding  much  to  the  beauty  of  the  scene." 
On  Sunday  the  President  "  went  to  crowded  churches  in  the 
morning  &  afternoon,"  but  the  names  of  the  churches  are 
left  blank.  General  Washington  staid  an  entire  week  in 
Charleston,  being  a  considerably  longer  time  than  was  given 
by  him  to  any  city  North  or  South.  His  summary  descrip 
tion  of  it  is  in  the  following  terms  : 

"  Charleston  stands  on  a  Peninsula  between  the  Ashley  &  Cowper 
Rivers  and  contains  about  1600  dwelling  houses  and  nearly  16,000  souls 
[population  in  1850  42,985],  of  which  about  8,000  are  white—  It  lies  low 
with  unpaved  Streets  (except  the  footways)  of  Sand.  There  are  a  num 
ber  of  very  good  houses  of  brick  &  Wood  but  most  of  the  latter — 
The  Inhabitants  are  wealthy — gay — hospitable ;  appear  happy  and  satis 
fied  with  the  general  governm*.  A  cut  is  much  talked  of  between  the 
Ashley  &  Santee  [Cowper]  Rivers,  but  it  would  seem  I  think  as  if  the 
accomplishment  of  the  measure  was  not  very  near —  It  would  be  a 
great  thing  for  Charleston  if  it  could  be  effected —  The  principal  Ex 
ports  from  this  place  is  Rice,  Indigo  and  Tobacco ;  of  the  last  from  5  to 
SOOO  Hhd  have  been  exported  and  of  the  first  from  80  to  120,000  Bar 
rels." 


244  THE    MOUNT    VERNON    PAPERS. 

No  mention  yet  of  cotton  among  the  staple  products  of 
the  South.  As  late  as  1794,  it  was  not  known  to  Chief  Jus 
tice  Jay,  when  he  negotiated  his  treaty  with  England,  that  it 
was  likely  to  be  an  article  of  United  States  Commerce.  So 
recently  has  this  great  element  of  trade  and  of  the  wealth  of 
nations  made  its  appearance  on  this  side  of  the  Ocean  ! 

On  Monday  the  9th  of  May  the  President  resumed  his 
journey  for  Savannah,  "attended  by  a  corps  of  the  Cincinnati, 
&  most  of  the  principal  gentlemen  of  the  city,  as  far  as  the 
bridge  over  the  Ashley  Elver."  After  breakfast  they  pro 
ceeded,  "  with  a  select  party  of  very  particular  friends," — to 
Colonel  Washington's,  at  Sandy  Hill,  a  distance  in  the  whole 
of  twenty-eight  miles.  On  the  following  day  the  friends  and 
attendants,  with  the  exception  of  Gen.  Moultrie  and  Major 
Butler,  took  leave  and  the  party  proceeded  to  breakfast  "  at 
Judge  Bee's  &  dined  and  lodged  at  Mr  Obrian  Smith's." — 
On  the  llth  the  President  was  entertained  at  dinner  "  by  the 
parishioners  of  Prince  William  "  and  lodged  at  Judge  Hay- 
ward's. — He  enters  an  apology  in  his  journal,  at  this  place, 
for  visiting  Col.  Washington,  on  the  score  "  of  friendship  & 
relationship,"  and  for  lodging  at  Mr.  Smith's  and  Judge  Hay- 
ward's,  on  the  ground  of  necessity,  "  there  being  no  public 
houses  on  the  road." 

Starting  on  the  12th  at  5  A.  M.  they  arrived  at  Puris- 
burg,  on  the  Savannah  River,  twenty-two  miles  distant,  to 
breakfast.  Here  they  were  met  by  Messrs.  Jones,  Col. 
Habersham,  Mr.  Jno.  Houston,  Genl.  Mclntosh,  and  Mr. 
Clay,  a  committee  from  the  city  of  Savannah.  They  descend 
ed  the  River  in  boats,  the  President  in  an  eight  oared  barge, 
rowed  by  eight  American  captains.  "  In  my  way  down  the 
River,"  says  the  Diary,  "  I  called  upon  Mrs.  Green,  the 
widow  of  the  deceased  Genl  Green,  (at  a  place  called  Mul 
berry  Grove,)  &  asked  her  how  she  did."  The  wind  and  tide 
being  against  them,  it  was  six  o'clock  before  they  reached  the 
city,  where  they  "  were  received  under  every  demonstration 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  245 

that  could  be  given  of  joy  and  respect."  The  President  dined 
in  public  at  a  late  hour  in  the  evening.  On  the  following  day 
he  dined  with  the  Cincinnati,  "  and  in  the  evening  went  to  a 
dancing  assembly,  where  there  were  about  100  well  dressed 
&  handsome  ladies."  On  the  14th,  in  company  with  the  prin 
cipal  gentlemen  of  the  place,  he  took  a  survey  of  the  city. 
He  expresses  himself  in  the  following  circumspect  manner  of 
the  siege  of  1779  : 

"I  visited  the  city  &  the  attack  &  defence  of  it  in  the  year  1779  un 
der  the  combined  forces  of  France  and  the  United  States  commanded  by 
the  Count  de  Estaing  &  General  Lincoln. — To  form  an  opinion  of  the  at 
tack  at  this  distance  of  time  and  the  change  which  has  taken  place  in  the 
appearance  of  the  ground  by  the  cutting  away  of  the  woods  &c  is  hard 
ly  to  be  done  with  justice  to  the  subject,  especially  as  there  is  remaining 
scarcely  any  of  the  defences." 

There  was  a  public  dinner  this  day,  "  under  an  elegant 
bower "  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  and  in  the  evening  "  a 
tolerable  good  display  of  fire-works." 

On  Sunday  the  15th,  after  morning  service,  "  &  receiving 
a  number  of  visits  from  the  most  respectable  ladies  of  the 
place,  (as  was  the  case  yesterday,)  "  the  President  started  for 
Augusta,  under  a  general  escort  of  the  citizens,  dined  with 
Mrs.  Green  at  Mulberry  Grove,  and  lodged  at  one  Spencer's. 

"  Savanna,"  says  the  Diary,  "stands  upon  what  may  be  called  high 
ground  for  this  country — It  is  extremely  sandy  which  makes  the  walking 
very  disagreeable ;  and  the  houses  uncomfortable  in  warm  &  windy 
weather,  as  they  are  filled  with  dust  whenever  these  happen.  The  town 
on  three  sides  is  surrounded  with  cultivated  rice  fields  which  have  a  rich 
and  luxuriant  appearance.  On  the  south  or  back  side  it  is  a  pine  land. — 
The  harbour  is  said  to  be  very  good  and  often  filled  with  square  rigged 
vessels  but  there  is  a  bar  below  over  which  not  more  than  12  [feet]  water 
can  be  bro*.  except  at  spring  tides. — The  tide  does  not  flow  above  12  or 
14  miles  above  the  city  though  the  River  is  swelled  by  it  more  than 
double  that  distance. — Rice  &  Tobacco  (the  last  of  which  is  greatly  en- 
creasing)  are  the  principal  exports — lumber  &  Indigo  are  also  exported, 


24:6  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

but  the  latter  is  on  the  decline  and  it  is  supposed  by  Hemp  &  Cotton.* — 
Ship  timber  vizt.  live  oak  and  Cedar  is  (and  may  be  more  more  so)  valu 
able  in  the  exp1." 

On  Monday  the  16th  and  Tuesday  the  17th  the  places 
where  the  party  breakfasted,  dined,  and  lodged,  arc  recorded. 
Of  Waynesborough  the  Diary  states  that  it  "  is  a  small  place, 
but  the  seat  of  the  Court  of  Burke's  County — 6  or  8  dwelling 
houses  is  all  that  it  contains.  An  attempt  is  making  (without 
much  apparent  effect)  to  establish  an  Academy  at  it,  as  is  the 
case  also  in  all  the  counties." 

On  the  18th  the  President  was  met  by  "  Governor  Tel- 
fair,  Judge  Walton,  the  Attorney  General,  and  most  of  the 
principal  gentlemen "  of  Augusta,  escorted  into  town,  "  & 
received  under  a  discharge  of  artillery."  He  dined  "  with  a 
large  company  at  the  Governor's  and  drank  tea  there  with 
many  well  dressed  Ladies."  On  the  19th  there  was  an  Ad 
dress  presented  by  the  citizens  of  Augusta  to  which  the 
President  replied ;  a  dinner  with  a  large  company  at  the 
Court  House,  and  an  Assembly  in  the  evening  at  the  Acad 
emy,  "  at  which  there  were  between  60  and  70  well  dressed 
ladies." 

The  20th  was  devoted  to  the  survey  of  the  remains  of 
"  the  works  which  had  been  erected  by  the  British  during  the 
war  &  taken  by  the  Americans,"  of  "  the  falls  "  in  the  river, 
and  the  neighboring  country.  Tobacco  is  mentioned  as  the 
principal  article  of  growth  and  export  from  this  region,  and 
as  likely  so  to  continue. 

"  Augusta  "  says  the  Diary  "  though  it  covers  more  ground  than  Sa 
vanna  does  not  contain  as  many  inhabitants,  the  latter  having  by  the 
late  Census  between  14  &  1500  whites  &  about  800  blacks." 

The  numbers  of  the  population  of  Augusta  are  left  blank 
in  the  Diary.  By  the  Census  of  1850  the  numbers  of  the 
two  cities  stood,  Savannah  15,312  and  Augusta  9,569. — 

*  A  word  or  two  appears  to  be  wanting  here,  but  the  sense  is  plain. 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  247 

From  Augusta  the  President  proceeded  to  Columbia, 
where  he  was  detained  a  day  longer  than  he  intended,  one  of 
his  horses  being  badly  foundered  by  the  length  of  the  journey 
from  Augusta,  the  want  of  water,  and  the  heat  of  the  weather. 
He  was  entertained  at  dinner  at  Columbia  by  the  gentlemen 
and  ladies  of  that  place  and  the  vicinity,  "  to  the  amount  of 
more  than  150  of  which  50  or  60  were  of  the  latter." 

The  following  is  the  President's  description  of  Columbia, 
then  in  its  infancy  : 

"  Columbia  is  laid  out  upon  a  large  scale;  but  in  my  opinion  it  had 
better  been  placed  on  the  River  below  the  falls.  It  is  now  an  unreclaimed 
wood,  with  very  few  houses  in  it  &  those  all  wooden  ones.  The  State 
house  (which  is  also  of  wood)  is  a  large  and  commodious  building,  but 
unfinished.  The  town  is  on  dry,  but  cannot  be  called  high  ground,  and 
though  surrounded  by  Piney  &  sandy  Land  is  itself  good.  The  State 
house  is  near  two  miles  from  the  River,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Broad 
River  &  Saluda. — From  Granby  the  River  is  navigable  for  craft,  which 
will,  when  the  river  is  a  little  swelled  carry  3000  bushels  of  Grain — when 
at  its  height  less  and  always  some.  The  River  from  hence  to  the  Wate- 
ree  below  which  it  takes  the  name  of  Santee  is  very  crooked  it  being 
according  to  the  computed  distance  near  400  miles — Columbia  from 
Charleston  is  130  miles." 

"Want  of  space  compels  the  omission  of  the  President's 
description  of  his  journey  to  Camden,  and  onward  to  Char 
lotte,  and  his  account  of  those  places.  His  remarks  on  the 
encounter  of  Green  and  Lord  Ra\vdon  and  of  Gates  and  Lord 
Cornwallis  are  extremely  interesting ;  but  no  room  remains 
for  further  extracts.  He  passed  through  the  towns  of  Salis 
bury  and  Salem,  where  he  examined  the  Moravian  Settle 
ments,  and  here  this  volume  of  the  Diary  concludes. 

No  apology  seems  necessary  for  occupying  so  much  space 
with  these  memoranda.  They  relate  to  a  portion  of  General 
Washington's  personal  history  never  before  described  in  de 
tail  ;  they  present  in  his  own  language  the  impressions  made 
upon  him,  by  the  principal  places  which  he  visited ;  and  they 
afford  most  interesting  materials  for  comparing  the  state  of 
the  country  in  1791  with  its  condition  at  the  present  day. 


NUMBEE    TWENTY-SEVEN. 

ADAMS'   EXPRESS  AND    THE  EXPRESS    SYSTEM   OF  THE 
UNITED    STATES. 

Scene  at  Embarcation  at  New  York  for  Charleston — Quantity  of  packages  put  on 
board  by  Adams1  Express — The  Expressage  not  to  be  confounded  with  commercial 
transportation— Miscellaneous  nature  of  articles  transported  by  Express — Connec 
tion  of  the  Express  with  the  periodical  press— Want  of  all  facilities  for  the  convey 
ance  of  small  parcels  in  former  times— Sketch  of  the  Origin  and  progress  of  the 
Express  System — "Wm.  F.  Harnden — Alvin  Adams — His  associates — And  succes 
sors — Present  state  of  Adams'  Express  and  extent  of  its  operations — Importance 
of  the  Express  system  compared  with  commercial  exchanges — Comparison  of  the 
Express  with  the  Post-office — Origin  and  functions  of  the  Post-office — Growing 
importance  of  the  Express. 

HAVING  occasion,  a  little  more  than  a  year  ago,  to  visit 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  for  the  purpose  of  repeating  my 
address  on  the  character  of  Washington,  I  embarked  at  New 
York  on  board  the  fine  steamer  "  Columbia,"  for  which  I  was 
favored  with  a  free  passage  by  the  liberal  proprietors  of  the 
line,  Messrs.  Spofford,  Tileston  &  Co.  Going  on  board 
about  half  an  hour  before  the  sailing  of  the  vessel,  my  atten 
tion  was  drawn  to  the  animated  scene  on  the  quay,  scarcely 
less  varied  and  striking  than  that  which  is  witnessed  on  the 
departure  of  a  first-class  passenger  ship  for  Europe.  Car 
riages  filled  with  passengers  of  either  sex  and  of  every  age 
and  their  friends  ;  porters  staggering  under  the  weight  of 
heavy  trunks ;  a  discouraged  maid  with  a  lap-dog  under  her 
arm  looking  as  if  she  wished  the  troublesome  pet  would  jump 
into  the  water ;  the  usual  throng  of  newsboys,  venders  of 
oranges,  Stewart's  mixed  candy,  and  popped  corn,  with  look- 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  249 

ers-on  of  every  description  and  in  every  body's  way,  all 
crowding  and  jostling  each  other  in  the  narrow  space ;  the 
fierce  roar  of  the  steam  as  if  impatient  for  departure ;  the 
busy  windlass  hoisting  in  merchandise  in  packages  of  every 
shape,  which  clear  their  way  before  them,  as  they  bound  over 
the  sides  of  the  vessel,  and  then  plunge  into  the  hold  ;  the 
spasmodic  energy  of  the  crew  crowding  a  good  morning's 
work  into  half  an  hour  ;  the  sharp  voice  of  the  first  mate 
directing  the  movement ;  the  occasional  yelp  of  an  unwary 
cur  caught  at  disadvantage  among  the  warring  elements  ;  the 
confused  plunging  of  an  obstinate  dray-horse,  who,  to  the  dis 
may  of  his  driver  and  the  gathering  multitude,  persists  in 
backing  into  the  dock ;  the  majestic  port  of  the  solemn  police 
man  as  he  penetrates  the  crowd  ;  the  cordial  hand-shaking  of 
friends  parting  soon  to  meet  again ;  the  tearful  farewells  of 
anxious  relatives  bidding  good-bye  to  their  pale  invalids, 
bound  to  the  tropics,  foreboding  too  truly  that  they  shall  see 
them  no  more  on  earth ; — all  this  made  up  a  scene,  and  occa 
sionally  as  I  have  witnessed  it,  ever  makes  up  a  scene, — which 
furnishes  much  food  for  thought  as  a  tolerable  epitome  of  the 
tragi-comedy  of  life. 

I  was  particularly  struck,  on  this  occasion,  with  the  suc 
cessive  arrivals  and  unloading  of  the  wagons  of  Adams'  Ex 
press.  I  think  there  were  at  least  four  of  them,  which  came 
down  to  the  quay,  drawn  by  sleek,  powerful,  and  docile 
horses,  and  delivered  their  contents  on  board  the  ship,  in  the 
course  of  the  half  hour ;  in  packages  of  every  size  and  shape, 
from  large  tierces,  barrels,  and  bales,  to  boxes  of  moderate 
dimensions,  and  of  every  imaginable  shape  and  character.  In 
addition  to  packages,  large  enough  to  go  separately  and 
safely,  there  were  two  or  three  coffers  of  great  size  and 
strength,  braced  with  iron,  and  double  locked,  containing — as 
I  was  told — parcels  whose  contents  were  highly  valuable  ; 
specie,  packages  of  bank  notes  and  bonds,  jewelry,  and  ar 
ticles  of  every  kind,  too  small  or  too  valuable  to  be  separately 
11* 


250  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS. 

transported.  The  addresses  on  the  separate  packages  and 
parcels  showed  the  vast  range  of  territory  embraced  in  this 
system  of  communication,  and  formed  a  little  gazetteer  of  the 
South  Atlantic  and  Gulf  States. 

Astonished  at  the  amount  of  articles  thus  moving  south 
ward,  I  inquired  if  it  was  unusually  large  that  day,  and  I  was 
answered  in  the  negative ;  about  the  same  quantity  Avas  des 
patched  twice  every  week  from  New  York  to  Charleston. 
This,  it  will  be  remembered,  is  independent  of  what  may  be 
forwarded  from  New  York  by  the  steamers  to  Norfolk,  Rich 
mond,  and  City  Point,  to  Savannah  and  New  Orleans,  and  all 
that  goes  by  land  to  the  Atlantic  States  of  the  South,  by  the 
way  of  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Washington,  Richmond,  and 
the  cities  of  North  Carolina.  I  then  asked  whether  the  move 
ment  took  place  only  from  North  to  South,  and  I  was  an 
swered  that  it  was  about  equal  in  the  opposite  direction,  and 
as  might  have  been  expected,  that  the  ebb  and  flow  of  this 
mighty  tide,  in  the  long  run,  balanced  each  other. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say,  that  this  stupendous  system 
of  communication  is  far  from  being  confined  to  the  seaboard 
or  to  the  intercourse  between  New  York  and  the  region  South 
of  it.  When  the  steamers  start  from  Boston  for  Maine  and 
the  British  provinces,  Favor's  Express  presents  the  same  spec 
tacle  ;  and  from  every  considerable  Atlantic  city,  on  all  the 
lines  of  railway  that  penetrate  the  interior,  from  Louisiana  to 
Maine,  from  New  York  to  Minnesota,  the  same  permeating 
net-work,  under  the  management  of  some  one  of  the  great 
Express  companies,  will  be  found  in  activity.  Nor  is  it  con 
fined  to  the  Eastern  portion  of  the  Continent ;  the  steamers 
bound  to  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  and  connecting  with  those 
that  ply  to  San  Francisco,  perform  their  part,  in  like  manner, 
in  carrying  on  this  wonderful  system. 

It  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  confound  the  Expr essay e 
of  the  country,  with  its  commercial  and  manufacturing  ex 
changes,  properly  so  called, — a  different  affair  conducted  by 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  251 

different  agencies. — These  latter  indeed  probably  form  a  more 
active  home  trade  than  exists  in  any  other  country,  for  there 
is  no  other  country  uniting,  in  the  same  degree,  extent  of  ter 
ritory,  variety  and  importance  of  natural  products,  boldness 
of  speculation  on  the  part  of  the  people,  energy  in  the  transac 
tion  of  business,  recklessness  in  the  use  of  credit,  ingenuity  and 
vigor  in  creating,  and  profusion  in  consuming.  But  the  trans 
portation  of  the  heavy  masses  of  merchandize  is  not,  in  ordi 
nary  cases,  the  "mission"  of  the  Expresses.  Their  business  is 
to  carry  parcels  of  considerable  value  in  proportion  to  their 
size ;  precious  articles,  one  thing  of  the  kind ;  miscellaneous 
packages,  transmitted  to  meet  the  infinitely  varied  wants  of 
social  and  domestic  life ;  parcels  in  reference  to  which  speed 
is  of  importance ;  things,  in  fine,  too  small  in  amount,  too 
multifarious  in  character,  too  widely  scattered  in  distribution 
to  enter  into  the  great  regular  movements  of  Commerce ;  but 
which  fill  up  the  little  interstices  of  life  with  comforts,  lux 
uries,  and  objects  of  taste  and  convenience.  To  enumerate 
them  all  would  be  impossible  ;  but  besides  packages  of  every 
kind  of  valuable  merchandise  despatched  in  urgent  or  excep 
tional  cases,  the  Express  conveys  a  volume  transmitted  to  a 
friend  at  a  distance ;  a  watch  which  has  been  sent  up  to  town  to 
be  repaired ;  a  daguerreotype  of  an  absent  relative ;  an  en 
graving  in  a  gilt  frame ;  specie  balances  interchanged  by  banks 
in  critical  times ;  a  small  cask  of  hams  of  Southern  curing 
and  flavor ;  a  piece  of  plate  as  a  bridal  present  to  a  distant 
friend  ;  a  pair  of  shoes  of  metropolitan  fabric ;  specimens  of 
natural  history,  fossil,  pickled,  recent ;  live  rattlesnakes,  the 
boxes  judiciously  marked  "to  be  handled  with  care;  "  delicate 
fruits  from  suburban  forcing-houses  despatched  to  the  inte 
rior  ;  a  fresh  salmon  from  the  Penobscot,  packed  in  ice,  or  a 
maskinonge  from  Sault  St.  Marie ;  a  buffalo  robe  from  the 
plains  ;  a  box  of  Cincinnati  or  St.  Louis  Champagne ;  patent 
medicines  in  great  quantities ;  at  some  seasons,  mountain 
piles  of  newspapers,  the  "  Ledger  "  overtopping  them  all ; 


252  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEKS. 

pickled  oysters  for  the  craving  West,  denied  that  luxury  by 
nature  ;  a  box  of  Congressional  documents  ;  in  a  word,  every 
conceivable  article  of  convenience  or  necessity,  the  growth  or 
manufacture  of  every  part  of  the  country,  despatched  by  in 
terest,  duty,  friendship,  or  affection  to  the  other. 

There  is  one  highly  important  service  rendered  by  the 
Express  system  to  the  cause  of  public  improvement,  which 
ought  to  be  more  particularly  signalized, — I  mean  that  to 
which  I  have  just  made  a  passing  allusion,  its  connection  with 
the  periodical  press.  During  the  uncertain  and  stormy 
weather  of  the  autumn  and  winter,  and  when  the  ordinary 
freight  trains  are  not  to  be  fully  depended  on,  great  quantities 
of  the  magazines,  weekly  newspapers,  and  other  journals  are 
conveyed  by  the  various  Express  companies  to  the  cities  of 
the  South  and  West,  as  far  as  St.  Louis  and  New  Orleans. 

Accustomed  as  we  are  to  this  immense  accommodation,  we 
can  hardly  comprehend  how  people  lived  without  it,  and  yet 
the  Express  system  is  of  quite  recent  growth.  When  I  came 
forward  in  life  nothing  of  the  kind  was  known.  There  were, 
as  I  have  stated  in  a  former  Number,  two  great  modes  of  con 
veyance  from  place  to  place,  in  stage  coaches  by  land,  and 
sailing  packets  along  the  coast.  By  neither  conveyance  was 
there  any  arrangement  for  transmitting  parcels,  small  or  large, 
beyond  what  the  traveller  took  with  him,  as  a  part  of  his  per 
sonal  baggage ;  the  amount  of  which  was  greatly  restricted. 
The  stage  coaches  had  no  boxes  for  the  convenient  deposit  of 
packages  and  gave  no  receipt  for  them.  The  carriages  and 
drivers  were  changed  two  or  three  times  a  day  ;  there  was  no 
system  of  "  booking  "  a  parcel,  and  of  course  no  security  for 
its  transfer  from  driver  to  driver.  A  small  bundle  might 
occasionally,  with  an  equal  chance  of  miscarriage,  be  for 
warded  for  a  stage  or  two,  if  you  were  personally  acquainted 
with  the  driver,  and  he  was  willing  to  take  it,  "  seeing  it  was 
you."  The  coasting  vessels  were  a  safe  conveyance,  subject 
of  course  to  be  blown  off  to  the  West  Indies ;  but  they  had 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  253 

no  arrangements  for  receiving  or  distributing  small  parcels. 
The  chief  reliance,  accordingly,  was  on  the  kindness  of  travel 
ling  friends,  by  whom  a  small  parcel  could  occasionally  be 
sent.  This  was  an  uncertain  and  otherwise  inconvenient  re- 
«cr  v ;  though  for  very  valuable  parcels  necessarily  depended 
upon.  Few  persons  of  character,  who  had  occasion  forty  or 
fifty  years  ago  to  travel  between  the  large  cities,  but  would 
be  requested  by  the  cashiers  of  banks  and  the  brokers  to  take 
charge  of  packages, — often  extremely  valuable  packages, — of 
bank  notes. 

This  very  imperfect  state  of  things  gradually  passed  away, 
with  the  extension  of  railroads  through  the  country.  The 
change  at  first  was  slow,  for  though  railroads  had  made  con 
siderable  progress  by  1830,  the  first  regular  Express  in  the 
United  States  was  started  between  New  York  and  Boston  in 
1839.  It  was  projected  by  Wm.  F.  Harnden,  who  gave  up  a 
place  as  conductor  upon  the  Boston  and  Providence  railroad, 
and  commenced  business  as  a  travelling  messenger  between 
the  cities  just  named.  His  enterprise,  like  most  important 
enterprises,  began  upon  a  small  scale.  Mr.  Harnden  was  able 
at  first  to  transport  the  articles  confided  to  him  in  a  valise, 
and  distributed  them  on  foot  in  the  two  cities  that  formed  the 
field  of  his  labors.  He  continued  for  seven  or  eight  years  in 
this  employment,  which  gradually  and  steadily  grew  in  his 
hands.  At  length  he  engaged  in  other  undertakings,  which 
were  less  successful,  at  home,  and  extended  his  Express 
operations  to  Europe,  but  without  satisfactory  results.  His 
name,  however,  is  inseparably  connected  with  the  origin  and 
development  of  the  Express  system  of  the  United  States. 

In  May,  1840,  a  new  era  in  the  system  commenced,  and 
the  Expressage  of  the  country  may  be  said  to  date,  if  not  its 
origin,  at  least  its  establishment  on  a  firm  and  systematic 
basis  from  that  year,  when  Mr.  Alvin  Adams,  in  connection 
with  P.  C.  Burke  as  a  partner,  engaged  in  the  business. 


254  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEBS. 

Burke  soon  retired  from  it,  and  the  establishment  was  con 
ducted  by  Adams  alone. 

Alvin  Adams  came  to  Boston  from  Vermont,  a  poor  or 
phan  boy,  to  seek  his  fortune,  at  first  in  an  humble  capacity, 
afterwards  with  some  success  in  trade.  He  was  not  long  in 
perceiving,  in  the  Express  business,  the  elements  of  a  lucra 
tive  occupation,  capable  of  almost  indefinite  expansion.  Con 
necting  himself  with  Ephraim  Farnsworth  as  a  partner  in 
New  York,  he  engaged  actively  in  the  conveyance  of  parcels 
between  the  two  cities  by  the  Worcester  and  Norwich  route, 
while  Harnden's  Express  adhered  to  that  of  Providence  and 
Stonington.  Farnsworth  was  soon  succeeded  by  Wm.  B. 
Dinsmore,  Esq.,  the  present  energetic  and  intelligent  Presi 
dent  of  the  Adams'  Express  Company.  On  entering  the 
partnership,  Mr.  Dinsmore  removed  the  office  from  William 
street,  New  York,  where  it  was  at  first  established,  to  No. 
17  Wall  street.  His  only  assistant  at  the  outset  was  a 
bright  youth  of  the  name  of  Hoey,  who,  with  the  aid  of  a 
wheelbarrow,  distributed  the  contents  of  the  Express  between 
Boston  and  New  York.  This  person  was  in  1857 — and 
probably  is  now — at  the  head  of  the  city  transportation 
business  of  Adams'  Express  in  New  York,  with  a  force,  at 
that  time,  of  fifty  men,  forty  horses,  and  twenty  wagons  at 
his  command. 

In  1843  Adams'  Express  associated  with  Messrs.  Sanford 
of  Philadelphia,  and  Shoemaker  of  Baltimore,  extended  itself 
as  far  South  as  Alexandria,  in  Virginia.  It  has  since  been 
pushed  to  the  farthest  South.  The  above  facts  are  derived 
from  a  very  interesting  article  in  the  New  York  Daily  Tri 
bune  of  the  10th  of  October,  1857,  in  which  will  also  be 
found  other  curious  details  relative  to  Adams'  Express,  and 
to  the  establishment  of  the  other  American  Expresses,  viz. 
those  of  Thompson  &  Co.  from  Boston  to  Albany  and 
Springfield  ;  of  Gay  &  Kingsley  to  New  York  by  the  way  of 
Fall  River  and  Newport ;  and  of  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.'s  great 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  255 

Western,  or,  as  it  is  more  properly  called,  American  Ex 
press. — This  last  named  enterprising  house  forwarded  the  first 
Express  west  of  Buffalo  in  1845,  which  has  been  prosperously 
conducted  ever  since,  and  has  grown  up  into  an  establishment 
of  first-rate  extent  and  importance.  No  small  portion  of  the 
specie  remittances  from  California  to  New  York  are  conveyed 
by  Messrs.  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.  The  general  Expressage  to 
California  is  shared  by  them  with  Freeman  &  Co.,  late  junior 
partners  of  Adams  &  Co.  The  houses  of  Adams  &  Co.  and 
Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.  are  the  two  leading  establishments  in  the 
Expressage  of  the  United  States. 

Adams'  Express,  though  subsequent  in  time  to  Harnden's 
is,  as  I  have  hinted,  entitled  to  the  credit  of  having  first  estab 
lished  the  business  on  a  permanent  foundation.  It  is  now 
supposed  to  have  associated  with  itself,  in  private  partner 
ship,  several  of  the  minor  establishments,  which  still  retain 
their  original  separate  names.  Its  lines  of  communication,  as 
I  have  been  informed  from  a  reliable  source,  now  run  not  only 
South  as  far  as  New  Orleans  but  West  as  far  as  St  Louis. 
By  friendly  or  tacit  understanding  with  other  Expresses,  its 
territorial  limits  extend  from  Boston  to  New  York  via  Spring 
field  and  New  Haven ;  from  New  York  to  Pittsburgh  via 
Philadelphia  ;  from  Pittsburgh  to  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  thence 
to  Cincinnati ;  from  Cincinnati  to  Indianapolis,  and  thence  to 
St.  Louis.  The  points  upon  these  several  lines  are  common 
to  Adams'  and  the  other  Expresses.  All  South  and  West  of 
them  is,  by  mutual  understanding,  within  the  territorial  limits 
of  Adams'  Express ;  all  North  of  these  lines  is  served  by 
other  Expresses.  Such  connections,  however,  exist  between 
the  various  establishments  that  packages,  if  I  mistake  not,  are 
received  by  all  of  them  to  be  forwarded  to  every  part  of  the 
Union. 

At  the  present  time,  as  I  learn  from  the  same  authentic 
source,  Adams'  Express  employs  3783  men  ;  it  has  972  agen 
cies,  and  its  messengers  travel  daily  40,152  miles  on  the  rail- 


256  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

roads  and  in  the  steamers ; — a  distance  equal  to  once  round 
the  globe  and  two-thirds  round  it  a  second  time.  I  have  made 
no  attempt  to  estimate  the  pecuniary  value  of  the  articles, 
daily  conveyed  by  Express  throughout  the  country,  further 
than  to  satisfy  myself  that  it  runs  far  into  the  millions.  It  is 
not  easy  to  rate  too  high  the  importance  of  such  establish 
ments,  in  promoting  the  general  improvement  and  comfort 
of  the  people.  Commerce  is,  by  all  admission,  one  of  the 
great  civilizers  of  nations  and  of  men.  But  the  Express  sys 
tem,  though  in  many  respects  auxiliary  to  Commerce,  goes 
beyond  the  great  wholesale  exchanges  of  trade,  and  penetrates 
further  and  more  directly  into  individual  life.  It  reaches  the 
fireside,  without  passing  through  the  hands  of  the  jobber  and 
retailer.  It  conveys  just  the  article  that  supplies  your  want 
and  suits  your  taste,  at  the  time.  It  transports  it  in  quan 
tities  so  small  as  to  be  beneath  the  gigantic  grasp  of  Com 
merce,  and  it  extends  to  articles  of  which  trade  takes  no  cog 
nizance.  A  single  copy  of  a  book  ordered  to  a  remote  village 
in  the  West,  which  it  could  never  reach  in  the  course  of  trade, 
— sent  for  to  answer  some  particular  purpose, — may  render 
a  service  to  the  officer,  the  engineer,  the  missionary,  which  he 
would  willingly  pay  with  its  weight  in  silver.  The  Photo 
graph  of  a  relative  or  friend,  transmitted  from  the  other  side 
of  the  Union,  may  impart  a  happiness  to  a  fond  and  sorrow 
ful  spirit,  which  silver  and  gold  cannot  buy. 

In  this  respect  the  Express  resembles  the  Post-office, 
which  is  greatly  undervalued,  when  it  is  regarded  only  as  an 
instrument  for  carrying  on  the  commercial  correspondence 
of  the  country.  Of  inestimable  importance  indeed  in  its  con 
nection  with  commerce,  the  Post-office  did  not  derive  its 
origin  from  the  wants  of  trade,  nor,  taking  the  aggregate  of 
the  social  interests  into  consideration,  does  its  great  utility 
consist  in  supplying  those  wants.  The  Posts,  of  antiquity, 
were,  no  doubt,  like  those  of  the  Mahometan  governments  at 
the  present  day,  established  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  257 

the  military  and  other  official  communications  of  the  State. 
If  they  afforded  any  facilities  for  private  correspondence,  it 
must  have  been  irregular  and  incidental.  The  Postal  ar 
rangements,  in  the  early  periods  of  modern  European  history, 
were  no  doubt  of  the  same  kind  ;  and  had  no  direct  connec 
tion  with  trade.  The  first  approach  to  the  modern  system  is 
said  to  have  been  made  by  the  University  of  Paris,  at  the  be 
ginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  for  the  convenience  of  the 
vast  multitudes  of  students,  who  resorted  to  it  from  every 
part  of  the  world.  If  this  supposition  be  well  founded,  it  was 
Education  not  Trade,  which  gave  the  germ  of  the  Post-office 
system  to  the  civilized  world ;  and  to  reward  this  service  the 
compensation  of  the  professors  of  the  University  of  Paris  was, 
till  quite  modern  times,  charged  upon  the  revenue  of  the  Post- 
office. 

However  this  may  be,  it  scarce  admits  a  question,  that 
the  province  of  the  Post-office  in  reference  to  the  moral,  the 
political,  the  social,  and  domestic  interests  and  relations  of 
the  country,  is  decidedly  more  important  than  its  immediate 
connection  with  commerce,  important  as  that  is.  In  fact, 
when  I  contemplate  the  extent  to  which  the  moral  sentiments, 
the  intelligence,  the  affections  of  so  many  millions  of  people, 
— sealed  up  by  a  sacred  charm  within  the  cover  of  a  letter, — 
daily  circulate  through  a  country,  I  am  compelled  to  regard 
the  Post-office,  next  to  Christianity,  as  the  right  arm  of  our 
modern  civilization. 

But  the  Express  system  is  rapidly  rising  into  scarcely  in 
ferior  consequence.  It  steps  in  where  correspondence  stops. 
It  transports  the  material  objects,  which  correspondence  can 
only  announce.  It  conveys  across  the  continent  the  cherished 
symbols  of  love,  friendship,  and  duty.  It  extends  to  the 
frontier  the  luxuries  and  comforts  of  the  seaboard,  and  brings 
back  every  article  of  value  or  interest  peculiar  to  the  frontier. 
In  conclusion,  let  me  not  forget  that  the  Mount  Vernon  cause 
is  under  the  greatest  obligations  to  the  liberality  of  the  va 
rious  Express  companies  throughout  the  Union. 


NUMBEE     TWENTY-EIGHT. 

AT   PAKIS,   IN   1818. 

The  fete  of  St.  Louis— His  name  in  the  United  States— The  festivities  of  the  day 
contrasted  with  those  usual  in  this  country— A  Mat  de  Cocagne  described— Prepa 
rations  for  departure — Gen.  Lyman — Eolations  with  Coray,  the  celebrated  modern 
Greek  scholar  and  patriot — Brief  account  of  his  life  and  services — Transmits  to 
this  country  the  Address  to  the  People  of  the  United  States  of  the  Messenian 
Benate  at  Calamata — Its  effects  here — Contributions  for  the  relief  of  the  Greeks 
distributed  by  Dr.  Howe — Death  and  autobiography  of  Coray. 

IN  the  twenty-second  Number  of  these  papers,  I  conducted 
my  reader  on  the  journey  toward  Italy,  by  the  way  of  South, 
ampton,  Havre,  and  Rouen,  as  far  as  Paris.  The  day  after 
our  arrival  at  Paris,  was  the  fete  of  St.  Louis,  the  patron  and 
military  Saint  of  France,  the  only  one  of  her  sovereigns, 
says  Sismondi,  who  has  received  the  honors  of  Canonization. 
Bourdaloue,  one  of  the  first  preachers  according  to  Voltaire, 
(an  impartial  judge,  perhaps,  on  such  a  point,)  "  who  made 
reason  eloquent,"  remarks,  in  his  splendid  panegyric  of  St. 
Louis,  that  "  the  other  saints  honored  in  the  Christian  world 
were  given  by  the  church  to  France,  but  as  for  St.  Louis, 
France  gave  him  to  the  church."'  We  Americans  ought  to 
care  something  about  St.  Louis.  One  of  the  great  central 
cities  of  the  West  bears  his  name,  which  in  its  origin  was 
identical  (Ludovicus,  Chlodovicus,)  with  that  of  Clovis,  the 
founder  of  the  French  Monarchy.  Indeed  as  the  great  pre 
dominance  of  the  name  of  Louis,  under  the  old  regime  in 
France,  may  be  ascribed  to  its  having  attained  the  honor  of 
Saintship,  in  the  person  of  Louis  IX.  he  may  be  considered, 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS.  259 

in  effect,  as  having  given  his  name  to  one  of  the  United  States. 
He  thus  enjoys, — he  a  half-mythical  French  monarch  of  the 
thirteenth  century, — an  honor  not  conferred  upon  any  of  the 
wise  and  the  good  of  our  own  history. 

St.  Louis  owes  his  title,  it  may  be  presumed,  to  his  hav 
ing  led  two  crusades  from  France  against  the  Mussulmans  in 
Egypt  and  Africa  ;  expeditions  which,  as  he  conducted  them, 
would,  at  the  present  day,  at  least,  secure  for  a  Sovereign  a 
place  in  the  insane  asylum  rather  than  in  the  Calendar.  Apart 
from  his  fanaticism,  however,  he  was,  in  the  main,  a  wise  and 
virtuous  prince.  When,  however,  we  find  Bourdaloue  com 
paring  him  not  merely  to  Moses  but  to  God  himself,  because 
"  he  conducted  his  victorious  arms  into  Egypt,"  and  call  to 
mind  the  egregious  imbecility  which  really  characterized  every 
step  of  his  insane  expedition  into  that  country,  and  resulted 
in  the  shameful  defeat  and  total  annihilation  of  his  army,  and 
his  own  captivity,  we  cannot  but  feel  that,  of  all  human  van 
ities,  panegyric  of  this  kind  is  among  the  vainest. 

I  passed  the  day  in  witnessing  the  festivities  with  which 
France,  in  the  nineteenth  century,  celebrated  the  birthday  of 
her  patron  saint  of  the  thirteenth.  In  some  parts  of  the 
United  States  that  shall  be  nameless,  the  day  would  have  been 
"  ushered  in  ;  "  that  is,  "  sleep  would  have  been  murdered  "  the 
night  before,  by  tin  trumpets,  India  crackers,  and  sporadic 
fire-arms,  and  the  tired  population  would  have  been  effectually 
roused  at  sunrise  by  a  tumultuous  ringing  of  bells  and  dis 
charge  of  artillery.  At  noon  we  should  have  had  an  oration, 
containing  a  tolerably  comprehensive  history  of  the  crusades 
in  general  and  of  those  of  St.  Louis  in  particular,  with  his 
biography  in  considerable  detail.  To  this  would  have  suc 
ceeded  a  procession  through  the  streets  of  the  civic  fathers 
and  their  invited  guests,  headed  by  a  band  of  music ;  a  public 
dinner,  with  a  succession  of  patriotic  toasts  and  still  more 
patriotic  speeches,  from  those  who  habitually  do  the  oratory 
on  these  occasions,  with  a  star  or  two  perhaps  from  a  dis- 


260  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPEKS. 

tance ;  a  display  of  fireworks  in  the  evening,  and  at  half  past 
nine — the  best  part  of  the  display — forty  thousand  spectators 
of  all  ages  and  of  either  sex,  wending  their  way  home,  weary, 
pleased,  and  sober. 

The  celebration  at  Paris  was  differently  managed.  Mass 
was  performed  in  Notre  Dame,  St.  Germain  1'Auxerrois,  and 
some  of  the  other  churches  ;  but  there  was  no  oration,  no  pro 
cession,  no  public  dinner ;  no  firing  of  crackers  in  the  streets 
over  night,  no  ringing  of  bells,  no  salvos  of  artillery  at  dawn. 
Little  or  no  notice,  that  I  could  see,  was  taken  of  the  day  in 
the  streets.  The  shops  were  open  as  usual, — in  fact,  they  are 
open  on  Sundays,  except  some  of  those  kept  by  Protestants ; 
— the  cafes  and  restaurants  perhaps  a  trifle  more  resorted  to, 
but  they  are  almost  always  full ; — no  perceptible  augmentation 
of  the  gay  and  busy  throng  on  the  Boulevards.  In  the  Champs 
Elysees  alone  some  provision  was  made,  partly  by  individ 
uals  on  their  own  account,  but  rather  more  by  the  govern 
ment,  at  least  so  I  judged,  for  the  public  amusement.  There 
were  all  kinds  of  raree  shows,  menageries,  marionettes,  tem 
porary  circuses,  mountebanks,  and  jugglers,  booths  for  the  sale 
of  toys,  flash  jewelry,  and  fancy  articles,  gambling  tables, 
popular  sports  of  all  kinds,  curious  gymnastic  apparatus,  and 
theatres  erected  of  slight  materials  for  the  occasion,  in  which 
every  act  seemed  a  catastrophe  and  every  scene  the  winding 
up  of  the  plot ;  the  two  principal  actors  being  a  head  of  brig 
ands  and  the  commander  of  a  force  sent  to  arrest  them,  who 
rarely  failed  to  kill  each  other,  and  the  other  personages  of 
the  drama  consisting  of  platoons  of  gens  tfarmerie,  detached 
for  the  ostensible  purpose  of  carrying  on  the  action  of  the 
piece,  by  an  eternal  uproar  of  musketry,  but  really  to  be  on 
hand  in  case  of  need  to  suppress  disorders  among  the  specta 
tors. 

What  most  attracted  me  was  the  Mats  de  Cocagne,  which 
I  had  never  seen  before,  and  with  which  I  was  greatly  amused. 
A  Mat  de  Cocagne  is  a  good-sized  mast,  such  as  might  suit  a 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  261 

topsail  schooner,  erected  in  the  ground,  its  surface  smeared 
all  the  way  up  with  soap  and  grease,  and  on  its  top  a  box  con 
taining  silver  forks,  watches  and  cheap  jewelry,  destined  as  a 
prize  to  reward  the  successful  climber.  No  one  person  can 
hold  out  strong  enough  to  attain  the  object,  which  can  only 
be  accomplished  by  several  clubbing  together.  Those  who 
undertake  it  begin  by  wiping  off  the  lubricating  substances 
with  wisps  of  straw,  as  high  up  as  they  can  reach,  and  this 
done  they  are  then  allowed  to  throw  sand  on  the  mast  to 
render  it  less  slippery.  This  preparation  enables  one  person 
to  climb  to  a  certain  elevation,  wiping  and  sanding  the  mast, 
as  far  up  as  he  can  sustain  himself,  by  clinging  with  his  legs 
round  the  part  already  sanded.  When  he  is  tired  out,  he 
slips  down  to  the  ground,  plants  himself  firmly  on  his  feet, 
clinging  tight  round  the  mast,  while  a  confederate  mounts  on 
his  shoulders,  and  from  the  elevation  thus  gained,  wipes  and 
sands,  and  so  fits  for  climbing  another  portion  of  the  mast. 
He  in  turn  slips  down,  at  length,  fatigued ;  but  plants  himself 
on  the  shoulders  of  the  first,  who  is  still  clinging  to  the  mast 
if  his  strength  holds  out.  A  third  one  then  mounts  upon  the 
two,  thus  standing  one  above  the  other,  and  so  on  till  the 
whole  mast,  delubricated  and  sanded,  is  brought  into  a  con 
dition  in  which  a  fresh  and  strong  associate  can  climb  to  the 
top  and  take  possession  of  the  prize  for  himself  and  col 
leagues.  No  ladders  or  hooks  of  any  kind  are  allowed,  and  the 
climbers  are  searched  to  prevent  their  having  any  steel  points 
or  other  contrivances  concealed  under  their  garments.  The 
only  artificial  aid  permitted  is  the  wisp  of  straw  and  the  sand, 
of  which  they  are  allowed  to  carry  up  as  much  as  broad  deep 
pockets  made  for  the  purpose  will  hold.  The  effort  of  course 
is  to  attain  the  object  by  a  party  consisting  of  as  few  confed 
erates  as  possible.  It  usually  takes,  as  I  was  told,  the  greater 
part  of  the  day  to  climb  to  the  summit  and  get  possession  of 
the  valuables  there  deposited.  The  toilsome  efforts  to  ascend, 
—the  persons  at  the  bottom  often  giving  way  under  the 


262  THE  MOUNT  YEKNON  PAPERS. 

weight  of  those  standing  upon  them,  two  or  three  deep,  and 
all  coming  down  with  a  run, — the  appearance  of  a  remarkably 
meagre  or  unusually  rotund  climber, — with  other  incidents 
of  such  an  undertaking,  furnish  the  day's  amusement  to  the 
gamins  of  Paris  and  bystanders  generally,  and  lead  to  the  ex 
change  of  a  deal  of  coarse  pleasantry,  interspersed  with  an 
occasional  scuffle  between  the  friends  of  the  climbers  and  those 
who  criticize  their  operations  too  pointedly.  These  last  de 
monstrations  are  however  kept  within  bounds  by  the  aforesaid 
gens  d'armerie.  Upon  the  wThole,  if  one  wishes  to  study  the 
humors  of  the  bas  peuple  of  Paris,  there  are  few  places  wrhere 
he  can  pass  a  couple  of  hours  to  greater  advantage  than  near 
a  Mat  de  Cocayne. 

We  have  nothing  exactly  like  it  in  this  country,  but  it 
does  not  badly  symbolize  the  life  of  those,  who  toil  and  strain 
to  climb  a  slippery  mast  of  another  kind,  mounting  on  the 
shoulders  of  confederates,  flinging  dust  in  the  eyes  of  the  pub 
lic,  and  occasionally  a  little  mud  in  the  faces  of  rivals,  and 
find  when  they  reach  the  top,  that  the  prizes  in  the  basket  are 
of  little  value  in  themselves,  and  not  half  numerous  enough  to 
satisfy  their  associates,  who  are  apt  to  quarrel  over  the  divi 
sion  of  the  spoils. 

At  Paris  I  rejoined  my  friend  the  late  General  Lyman  of 
Boston,  with  whom  as  a  travelling  companion  I  was  to  visit 
Italy  and  the  East, — a  person  of  great  worth,  and  admirably 
fitted  as  a  traveller  by  an  ever  active  spirit  of  observation, 
gentlemanly  manners,  and  even  temper.  We  remained  no 
longer  at  Paris  than  was  necessary  to  make  the  last  prepara 
tions  for  the  journey  before  us,  and  particularly  to  get  our 
passports  duly  countersigned. 

I  availed  myself  of  the  opportunity  thus  afforded  to  visit 
a  few  friends,  whose  society  I  had  enjoyed  the  winter  before, 
and  particularly  the  celebrated  Coray,  the  most  learned  and 
sagacious,  as  it  seems  to  me,  of  the  scholars  of  Modern  Greece, 
and  second  to  none  of  her  sons,  in  the  services  rendered  by 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS.  263 

him  in  preparing  the  way  for  her  liberation.  Having  in  view 
a  visit  to  Greece,  I  had  eagerly  sought  his  acquaintance  on  arriv 
ing  at  Paris  in  the  Autumn  of  1817,  and  had  diligently  culti 
vated  it  during  the  whole  of  the  following  winter.  He  was 
then  seventy  years  of  age,  and  of  rather  infirm  health,  but  in 
the  full  possession  of  his  faculties.  My  conversation  with 
him,  in  our  frequent  interviews,  naturally  dwelt  most  on  the 
subjects  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  both  of  us, — the  ancient 
literature  of  his  country,  the  condition  and  prospects  of 
Modern  Greece,  and  the  hopes  of  her  regeneration ; — but  he 
had  seen  much  of  the  world ;  he  possessed  the  principal  lan 
guages  of  Modern  Europe ;  had  been  a  general  reader,  and 
had,  from  observation  and  books  amassed  a  fund  of  various 
and  useful  knowledge,  which  I  have  rarely  seen  equalled.  He 
was  good  enough  to  encourage  the  repetition  of  my  visits, — 
a  benignant  smile  ever  welcomed  me,  even  when  he  was  suf 
fering  severe  pain, — and  I  never  left  him  without  having 
heard  something  that  was  worth  remembering,  or  learning 
something  which  I  did  not  know  before. 

This  remarkable  man  was  born  in  Smyrna,  in  1748,  and 
was  the  son  of  parents  in  straitened  circumstances.  His  op 
portunities  of  education  were  of  course  slender  ;  but  he  early 
displayed  uncommon  aptitude  for  learning,  with  an  insatiable 
thirst  for  knowledge.  Native  teachers  were  few  and  incom 
petent  ; — the  instruction  which  they  gave,  as  he  tells  us,  was 
meagre,  the  flogging  abundant.  Happily  he  formed  the  ac 
quaintance  of  the  Chaplain  of  the  Dutch  Consul,  wrho  desired 
to  learn  of  him  the  pronunciation  of  the  Romaic,  and  who  in 
return  instructed  young  Coray  in  the  Latin.  He  early  im 
bibed,  from  the  perusal  of  Demosthenes,  a  passionate  love  of 
liberty  and  a  galling  sense  of  the  tyranny  under  which  his 
countrymen  were  groaning.  Brought  up  in  trade,  he  was 
sent  at  the  age  of  twenty-four  to  Holland  to  engage  in  busi 
ness.  Here  he  lived  six  years,  closely  confined  to  his  duties, 
but  passing  two  evenings  in  a  wreek  at  the  house  of  a  friendly 


264  THE  MOUNT  VEKXON  PAPEKS. 

clergyman,  to  whom  the  chaplain  above  named  had  given  him 
letters  of  introduction.  These  six  years  were  not  only  agree 
ably  but  profitably  passed.  In  1779  he  returned  by  the  way 
of  Vienna,  Trieste,  and  Venice  to  Smyrna.  His  views  in  life 
had  by  this  time  undergone  a  change  ;  the  astonishing  career 
of  the  unfortunate  Rhigas  had  already  commenced  and  kindled 
his  enthusiasm  ;  he  determined  to  abandon  the  career  of  a 
merchant,  which  if  successful  marked  him  out  as  an  object  of 
oppression  and  plunder  on  the  part  of  the  Turkish  govern 
ment,  to  be  avoided  only  by  remaining  in  voluntary  exile. 
He  took  up  instead  the  profession  of  medicine,  which,  if  he 
remained  in  Turkey,  was  the  safest  calling,  while  it  furnished 
superior  opportunities  for  cultivating  those  literary  pursuits, 
to  which  he  looked  as  fitting  him  to  act  extensively  on  his 
countrymen.  Resisting  the  temptation  of  an  eligible  mar 
riage  which  his  parents  wished  him  to  contract,  he  repaired 
to  Montpelier,  in  France,  and  there  for  several  years  devoted 
himself  with  diligence  to  the  study  of  his  profession,  sup 
ported  at  first  by  small  remittances  from  his  father,  and  when 
this  resource  failed,  by  a  little  frugal  aid  from  his  old  friend 
the  chaplain,  and  by  translating  medical  books  from  German 
and  English  into  French.  In  1789,  and  after  having  taken 
his  degree  of  Doctor,  he  came  to  Paris.  The  Revolution  was 
just  breaking  out,  and  the  ten  years  which  followed  his  arrival 
in  Paris  were  passed  by  Coray  in  wise  obscurity,  and  as  far 
as  concerned  the  bloody  game  of  which  he  was  a  spectator,  in 
entire  inaction.  He  was  all  the  time,  however,  by  his  own 
solitary  studies  and  a  diligent  but  carefully  guarded  corre 
spondence  with  his  countrymen,  not  only  in  Turkey  but  in 
the  various  States  of  Europe,  educating  himself  and  them  for 
great  events.  He  saw,  a  half  century  before  the  Emperor 
Nicholas  announced  it,  that  Turkey  was  "  a  sick  man  ;  "  and 
conceived  the  hope  that,  in  the  general  despoiling  of  the  estate 
to  which  he  looked  forward,  Central  Greece  at  least  would  go 
free. 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  265 

The  course  he  pursued  to  accomplish  the  great  object  which 
he  had  at  heart  was  characterized  by  the  long-suffering  of 
Providence.  Pie  did  not  seek,  in  the  first  instance,  to  stir  up 
revolt,  the  fatal  error,  in  some  countries,  of  political  regenera 
tors, — but  he  aimed  to  improve  the  minds  of  his  countrymen ; 
to  facilitate  to  them  the  study  of  the  noble  authors  of  their 
ancient  language  ;  to  purify  the  modern  dialect  from  the  bar 
barisms  that  had  crept  into  it,  and  thus  if  possible  to  estab 
lish  an  identity  between  ancient  and  modern  Greece.  In  ad 
dition  to  this,  his  prefaces  and  notes  to  a  series  of  the  ancient 
writers  furnished  him  the  opportunity  of  inculcating  many 
seasonable  lessons  of  patriotism  among  his  readers.  His 
editions  were  published  at  the  expense  of  his  prosperous 
countrymen  at  Vienna,  Trieste,  and  elsewhere,  and  widely 
circulated ;  but  he  did  not  confine  himself  to  these  indirect 
methods.  When,  after  the  death  of  Rhigas  in  1798,  meanly 
given  up  with  his  associates  by  Austria  to  the  Turkish  govern 
ment,  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem  was  compelled  to  issue  a 
general  address  to  his  countrymen,  exhorting  them  to  submit 
unresistingly  to  the  Ottoman  power,  Coray  published  a  fervent 
and  high-toned  reply.  In  1801  he  addressed  another  patriotic 
appeal  to  his  countrymen,  exhorting  them  to  rely  on  the  aid 
and  protection  of  France.  The  great  movement  in  Greece  in 
1821  took  him  at  first  somewhat  by  surprise ;  he  had  not 
anticipated  so  early  an  explosion ;  and  in  fact  it  had  been  pre 
maturely  brought  about  by  the  rupture  of  Ali  Pacha  of  Al 
bania  with  the  Porte  the  year  before.  But  though  fearful  at 
first  that  the  time  had  not  come  for  a  successful  revolt  through 
out  the  whole  of  the  region,  whose  population  was  substan 
tially  of  the  Greek  church, — as  the  event  sufficiently  proved 
to  be  the  case, — he  cordially  entered  into  the  movement,  and 
though  too  old — 73 — to  repair  to  Greece  with  a  view  of 
rendering  active  service,  he  contributed  materially  by  his 
wise  counsels,  by  his  correspondence,  and  by  his  publications, 
12 


266  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

to  animate  the  zeal  of  his  countrymen  and  to  give  it  a  right 
direction. 

When  I  was  leaving  Paris  for  Italy  and  Greece,  Coray 
furnished  me  with  letters  to  his  countrymen  in  the  principal 
cities  which  I  was  likely  to  visit  in  European  or  Asiatic 
Turkey,  a  circumstance  to  which  I  was  indebted  for  the 
freest  access  to  the  persons  whose  acquaintance  a  youthful 
traveller  could  most  wish  to  form, — the  patriotic  merchants 
the  learned  professors,  the  promising  young  men,  in  short  the 
elite  of  modern  Greece.  The  relations  thus  formed  naturally 
gave  me  the  deepest  interest  in  the  impending  future  of  the 
native  land  of  literature,  philosophy,  and  art. 

When  the  revolution  broke  out  in  Greece  in  1821,  a  dep 
utation  from  the  first  provisional  Congress  was  despatched 
to  Paris  to  confer  with  Coray,  and  take  measures  with  him 
for  enlisting  the  sympathies  of  Western  Europe  and  America. 
They  brought  with  them  the  Address  of  the  Messenian  Senate 
of  Calamata  to  the  People  of  the  United  States.  This  mani 
festo  was  forwarded  by  Coray  to  me,  and  at  the  earliest  mo 
ment  at  which  it  seemed  likely  to  attract  attention  was  trans 
lated  and  published  with  the  accompanying  letter  of  the  Dep 
uties,  in  the  papers  of  the  day.  The  interest  with  which 
these  appeals  were  read  was  the  immediately  exciting  cause 
of  the  enthusiasm  for  Greece  which  pervaded  the  United 
States ;  and  which  found  expression  in  public  meetings 
throughout  the  country,  in  the  magnificent  speech  of  Mr. 
Webster  in  Congress,  and  a  year  or  two  later  in  the  liberal 
and  substantial  contributions  to  the  relief  of  the  sufferers  by 
the  war,  which  were  forwarded  to  Greece,  under  the  care  of 
Dr.  Howe,  and  there  distributed  by  him  in  a  manner  which 
has  earned  for  him  and  his  countrymen  the  abiding  gratitude 
of  thousands. 

Coray  lived  to  the  age  of  eighty-five,  and  died  at  Paris  in 
1833,  active  almost  to  the  last  in  his  literary  pursuits,  and 
happy  in  the  liberation  to  which  he  had  so  much  contributed, 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  TAPEKS.  267 

of  a  portion  of  his  country, — though  not  satisfied  at  seeing 
what  was  called  the  Independent  government  the  sport  of  the 
rival  interests  of  the  great  powers  of  Europe.  He  brought 
down  his  Autobiography,  published  by  his  friends  since  his 
death,  to  the  year  1829. — I  have  several  letters  from  him, 
beautifully  written  in  a  character  very  nearly  resembling  that 
of  the  Didot  editions  of  the  Greek  classics  ;  and  I  seize  with 
pleasure  the  opportunity  of  paying  this  grateful  tribute  to  his 
honored  memory. 


NUMBER  TWENTY-NINE. 

THE  ILLUSTRIOUS  DEAD  OF  1859— PRESCOTT,  BOND,  HALLAM, 
VON  HUMBOLDT. 

The  value  of  their  example  to  young  men— Traits  of  Mr.  Prescott's  character,  which 
are  within  the  reach  of  imitation  by  others — "William  Cranch  Bond  the  Astrono 
mer — Remarkable  variety  and  union  of  qualities,  scientific  and  practical — His 
amiable  temper  and  disposition — His  enthusiasm  for  Astronomy — Liberal  appreci 
ation  of  others — Visit  of  Jenny  Lind  to  the  Cambridge  Observatory — Succeeded 
in  the  Observatory  at  Cambridge  by  his  son  George  P.  Bond— Scientific  reputation 
of  Mr.  Bond,  Jnr. 

SINCE  I  commenced  these  Papers  at  the  beginning  of  the 
year,  four  persons  of  great  eminence  in  the  scientific  and  liter 
ary  world  have  passed  away,  two  in  this  country  and  two  in 
Europe.  With  all  of  them  it  was  my  happiness  to  stand  in 
friendly  relations, — with  three  of  them  I  was  intimately  ac 
quainted.  They  were  all  four  men  who  in  their  respective 
departments  have  left  no  superior.  The  lives  and  characters 
of  all  of  them  are  full  of  instruction  and  encouragement,  espe 
cially  to  young  men. 

There  is  no  brighter  example  than  Prescott's  of  what  may 
be  accomplished  by  a  resolute  spirit  and  a  firm  purpose.  I 
have  already  had  an  opportunity  of  paying  my  humble  tribute 
to  his  memory,  before  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society, 
but  I  would  gladly  dwell  upon  it  for  a  few  moments  in  the 
columns  of  THE  LEDGER.  Undoubtedly  he  possessed  by  na 
ture  an  admirable  talent, — intellectual  powers  of  a  very  high 
order.  But  he  owed  his  brilliant  success  in  a  very  consider 
able  degree  to  his  moral  qualities,  his  fortitude  under  severe 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS.  269 

trials  ;  his  resolute  war  against  formidable  obstacles  ;  his  un 
wearied  perseverance ;  and  even  in  some  measure  to  the 
humbler  agencies  of  system  and  method  in  his  studies,  in  his 
exercise,  and  in  his  affairs.  It  is  for  this  reason,  that  I  call 
his  example  instructive  to  young  men,  because  in  these  he 
may  be  imitated  by  persons  who  do  not  possess  his  admi 
rable  natural  gifts.  All  men  can  be  systematic  in  the  arrange 
ment  of  their  regular  occupations ;  punctual  in  their  hours 
and  especially  in  their  appointments  where  others  as  well  as 
themselves  are  concerned ;  and  resolute  in  adhering  to  plans 
either  of  employment  or  relaxation ;  and  those  who  are  so 
even  with  natural  talents  far  inferior  to  Prescott's,  may  in  a 
long  life  bring  much  to  pass.  All  men  whose  health  requires 
and  whose  means  admit  it,  might  like  him  leave  their  beds 
before  sunrise,  in  our  cold  New  England  climate,  for  a  ride  of 
several  miles  before  breakfast, — and  yet  the  number  of  persons 
who  have  the  moral  energy  to  pursue  such  a  course  of  health 
ful  exercise,  through  a  northern  winter,  is  perhaps  not  greater 
than  of  those  gifted  by  nature  with  his  brilliant  mental  powers. 
In  another  respect  Mr.  Prescott's  example  is  of  inestima 
ble  value  in  pointing  out  to  our  young  men  of  leisure  and  for 
tune  the  true  path  to  usefulness  and  fame.  The  number  is 
rapidly  increasing  throughout  the  country  of  those  who  enter 
life  with  large  inherited  means  and  still  larger  expectations. 
These  young  men,  almost  as  a  matter  of  course,  enjoy  the 
best  advantages  for  instruction  at  school  and  at  college  ;  but 
it  is  not  so  much  a  matter  of  course,  that  they  make  as  good 
use  of  these  advantages,  as  those  who,  in  straitened  circum 
stances,  are  compelled  to  make  strenuous  efforts  and  severe  sac 
rifices  to  obtain  an  education.  We  have,  however,  a  few 
young  men  of  fortune  and  leisure,  who,  without  devoting 
themselves  to  professional  pursuits  or  seeking  the  increase  of 
their  wealth  by  engaging  in  business, — a  very  hazardous  step 
in  such  cases, — employ  their  time  in  reading,  in  cultivating 
a  taste  for  science  or  letters,  or  in  forming  a  library  or  a  col- 


270  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEES. 

lection  of  works  of  art  or  specimens  of  natural  history.  There 
are  others  who  resort  to  the  country,  and  occupy  themselves 
in  agricultural  pursuits.  The  possession  of  fortune  at  the  out 
set  of  their  career,  enables  persons  of  this  class,  not  only  to 
set  an  example  of  a  useful  and  virtuous  employment  of  time, 
but  to  enrich  the  community  by  valuable  literary,  scientific, 
artistic,  and  utilitarian  treasures,  books,  pictures,  statuary, 
collections  illustrative  of  science ; — in  agricultural  pursuits, 
implements  of  husbandry,  animals  of  improved  breeds,  and 
costly  experiments  and  improvements.  Of  those  who  have 
devoted  leisure  and  fortune  to  the  pursuits,  by  which,  while  the 
mind  of  the  possessor  is  improved,  the  community  is  benefited 
and  honor  reflected  on  the  country,  Prescott  is  the  brightest 
example  in  the  United  States  ; — while  the  almost  insuperable 
difficulties  under  which  he  labored,  will  ever  encourage  those, 
who  enter  life  under  unfavorable  circumstances  of  any  kind,  not 
to  yield  to  despondence.  What  would  not  the  country  have 
lost,  if,  abandoning,  on  account  of  his  infirmity,  all  effort  at 
literary  distinction,  he  had,  like  so  many  young  men  of 
wealth,  plunged  into  dissipation,  or  merely  wasted  his  time 
in  the  club  room,  the  drawing  room,  or  on  the  race  course ! 

William  Cranch  Bond,  another  of  the  noble  four  to  whom 
I  have  alluded,  was  an  example  not  less  bright  though  of  a 
different  kind.  There  is  no  man  now  living  who  watches  the 
stars  with  a  keener,  more  patient,  more  skilfully  trained  or 
more  wary  eye  than  he  did.  Though  he  may  be  excelled  by 
individuals,  in  some  single  branches  of  his  department,  there 
is  probably  no  living  astronomer,  who,  as  much  as  he  did, 
unites  respectable  scientific  knowledge,  acuteness  and  precision 
of  observation,  conscientiousness  and  patient  accuracy  in  re 
cording  its  results,  ingenuity  as  a  horological  machinist,  and 
mechanical  dexterity  of  a  more  ordinary  kind.  Witness  for 
his  scientific  knowledge,  and  the  accuracy  with  which  his 
observations  and  researches  are  recorded,  the  published  vol 
umes  of  the  annals  of  the  Observatory  at  Cambridge,  and 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS.  271 

his  memoirs  communicated  to  the  American  Academy  of  Arts 
and  Sciences.  Witness  for  the  acutencss  of  his  observations, 
his  discovery  jointly  with  his  son  of  the  new  ring  of  Saturn, 
his  discovery  of  the  eighth  satellite  of  that  planet, — perhaps 
even  of  a  second  satellite  of  Neptune.  For  his  wonderful  skill 
as  a  scientific  machinist,  it  is  sufficient  to  allude  to  his  appa 
ratus  for  registering  astronomical  observations  adopted  in  the 
Royal  Observatory  at  Greenwich,  which,  with  electric  speed 
and  automatic  precision,  does  the  work  of  two  observers,  far 
more  minutely,  as  well  as  accurately,  than  it  could  be  done 
by  human  eyes  and  fingers. 

Nor  was  he  less  remarkable  for  mechanical  skill  of  a  lower 
kind.  Witness  the  extraordinary  feat  of  setting  up  the  great 
Equatorial  at  Cambridge,  taking  it  from  the  fourteen  boxes, 
which  contained  its  hundreds  of  pieces,  the  mass  together 
weighing  five  tons,  the  extremely  complicated  apparatus  such 
as  he  had  never  seen  before,  the  directions  in  the  German  lan 
guage,  of  which  he  had  but  an  imperfect  knowledge,  and  put 
ting  them  all  up  in  their  places  on  the  pier,  in  two  days  ! 

While  his  scientific  talents  and  attainments  commanded 
admiration,  his  amiable  qualities  of  temper  and  heart  gained 
him  the  love  of  all  who  knew  him.  He  had  struggled  hard 
from  poverty  and  obscurity  into  the  light  of  day.  No  early 
opportunities  of  academical  education  cheered  him  onward. 
Every  step  of  his  early  progress  was  taken  under  dis 
heartening  difficulties,  and  he  had  hardly  reached  the  goal  of 
his  career — the  noble  observatory  at  Cambridge — before  the 
declining  sun  of  life  cast  long  shadows  over  the  plain,  and 
the  glow  of  triumph  was  chilled.  But  although  frugal  of 
speech,  tranquil  as  the  sky  in  demeanor,  and  all  but  impas 
sive  in  outward  appearance,  the  fire  burned  within  him.  A 
more  generous  spirit,  or  a  warmer  heart,  never  glowed  in  the1 
human  breast. 

But  notwithstanding  the  strength  and  kindliness  of  his  tem 
per,  exercised  in  all  the  social  relations  of  life,  his  home  was 


272  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

in  the  heavens.  His  nightly  walk  was  with  the  stars.  The 
position  and  bearings  of  every  fixed  luminary,  the  orbit  of 
every  moving  body  ;  every  law  and  every  perturbation  ;  the 
whole  range  and  sweep  of  the  heavens,  from  the  outskirts  of 
the  milky  way,  the  faintest  nebula,  the  unfathomed  regions 
of  space,  (as  far  as  modern  science  has  explored  them,)  down 
to  the  nearest  planet,  and  our  own  satellite,  were  as  familiar 
to  him  as  the  features  of  the  surrounding  landscape.  Brought 
up  in  poverty,  dependent  all  his  life  on  a  laborious  mechanical 
occupation  (that  of  a  watchmaker)  for  a  portion  of  the  income 
necessary  to  the  support  of  his  family,  I  am  persuaded  that 
the  discovery  of  the  eighth  satellite  of  Saturn  gave  him 
greater  pleasure,  than  it  would  to  have  fallen  heir  to  a  fortune. 
On  the  22d  of  September,  1847,  I  received  a  letter  from  him 
from  the  Observatory,  (I  was  then  connected  with  the  Uni 
versity  at  Cambridge,)  in  which  he  said,  "  You  will  rejoice 
with  me,  that  the  great  nebula  in  Orion  has  yielded  to  the 
powers  of  our  incomparable  telescope."  I  met  him  an  hour 
or  two  after  the  receipt  of  the  letter,  and  his  sweet  calm  face 
glistened  with  triumphant  joy,  like  an  angel's. 

He  emulated  the  peacefulness  of  the  stars.  It  was  as 
impossible  that  with  envious  feeling,  or  selfish  wish,  or  by 
uncharitable  speech  he  should  seek  to  detract  from  his  neigh 
bor's  rights  or  fame,  as  that  Jupiter  and  Saturn  should  come 
in  conflict  in  their  orbits.  He  thought  the  heaven  and  heaven 
of  heavens  a  field  wide  enough  for  all  who  love  to  penetrate 
their  depths  and  survey  their  glories.  I  am  persuaded  that  a 
word  designed  or  calculated  to  injure  another  man's  reputa 
tion,  especially  that  of  a  brother  Astronomer,  never  dropped 
from  his  lips  or  his  pen.  So  valuable  was  his  time,  so 
precious  the  use  of  his  "  incomparable  telescope,"  so  austere 
the  simplicity  of  his  manners,  that  to  strangers  visiting  the 
Observatory,  as  a  mere  object  of  curiosity,  he  sometimes 
seemed  unduly  reserved  and  even  repulsive ;  but  with  a 
brother  observer,  or  a  sincere  lover  of  science,  however  hum- 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  273 

ble  his  attainments,  or  with  a  friend,  he  was  the  most  patient, 
communicative,  and  sympathetic  of  men. 

Not  less  than  "  the  music  of  the  spheres  "  he  loved  the 
harmonies  of  the  human  voice.  He  was  an  especial  admirer 
of  Jenny  Lind,  and  having  myself  the  good  fortune  to  be 
acquainted  with  her,  he  requested  me  to  arrange  with  her  a 
visit  to  the  Observatory.  Saturn  happened  at  that  time  to  be 
in  a  most  favorable  position  for  observation.  While  she 
was  gazing  upon  it  through  the  great  telescope,  a  meteor  of 
unusual  brilliancy  shot  across  the  field  leaving  behind  it  for 
some  seconds  a  brilliant  pathway.  He  regretted  that  it  was 
not  a  permanent  body  to  which,  in  commemoration  of  her  visit, 
he  might  attach  her  name.  As  he  was  adjusting  the  tele 
scope,  he  entered  into  some  general  explanation  of  the  great 
facts  of  Astronomy,  and  the  mechanism  of  the  heavens,  rising 
from  the  sun  to  the  surrounding  luminaries,  from  the  solar 
family  to  the  sidereal  system  of  which  it  is  a  part,  and  from 
that  to  the  mighty  whole  of  which  our  universe  with  all  its 
hosts,  is  but  a  member, — orb  above  orb,  system  above  sys 
tem,  universe  above  universe. — The  last  time  I  saw  him, 
which  was  on  the  occasion  described  in  the  fifth  number  of 
these  Papers,  I  recalled  this  visit  to  him,  and  spoke  of  the 
pleasure  with  which  I  had  listened  to  what  he  said.  He 
answered,  "  But  what  Jenny  Lind  said  to  me  in  reply  was 
better  ; — *  AND  GOD  ABOVE  ALL  ! "  I  rejoice  that  the  re 
spectful  allusion  to  him  in  that  Paper,  describing  a  visit  to  the 
Observatory  for  the  purpose  of  observing  the  Comet,  must 
have  fallen  beneath  his  eyes  before  they  were  closed  on  this 
world  to  open  on  the  nearer  vision  of  those  glories  which  he 
had  watched  on  earth  with  such  reverent  gaze. 

The  friends  of  American  science  are  well  pleased  that  his 
mantle  and  his  place,  at  the  head  of  the  Cambridge  Observ 
atory,  have  descended  with  his  name.  To  equal  patience, 
acuteness,  and  skill  as  an  observer,  Mr.  George  Phillips  Bond 
unites  the  advantages,  to  which  his  venerable  father,  though  a 
11* 


274:  THE  MOUNT  VEBNON  PAPERS. 

respectable  geometer,  did  not  lay  claim,  viz.,  those  of  rare 
mathematical  talents,  and  thorough  mathematical  training  and 
education.  He  was  for  years  the  trusted  associate  of  his 
father's  labors  and  studies.  In  Professor  Loomis's  valuable 
work  on  the  "  Recent  Progress  of  Astronomical  Science,"  a 
brief  but  interesting  sketch  is  given  of  the  researches  of  the 
Messrs.  Bond,  father  and  son,  down  to  the  year  1856. — It  is 
there  stated  that  Mr.  George  P.  Bond  "  has  been  the  inde 
pendent  discoverer  of  eleven  Comets,  but  unfortunately  it  sub 
sequently  appeared,  that  each  of  these,  save  one,  had  been  pre 
viously  discovered  in  Europe.  The  Comet  of  August  29th, 
1850,  he  discovered  seven  days  in  advance  of  the  European 
Astronomers.  Two  other  Comets  he  discovered  on  the  same 
night  that  they  were  seen  in  Europe,  viz.,  those  of  June  5th, 
1845,  and  April  llth,  1849.  Having  found  this  species  of 
observation  too  severe  a  trial  for  his  eyes,  he  has  for  the  past 
three  or  four  years  given  up  comet  seeking."  Mr.  Geo.  P. 
Bond's  Memoir  in  the  Mathematical,  Monthly  on  Donati's 
comet,  (which  attracted  the  wondering  admiration  of  the  world 
last  Autumn,)  is  a  most  successful  attempt  to  popularize 
science.  The  engravings  accompanying  it  are  of  surpassing 
beauty.  The  non-scientific  world  is  under  great  obligations  to 
Mr.  Bond,  for  bringing  the  observations  made  at  Cambridge 
and  his  views  upon  the  subject  of  Donati's  comet,  down  to 
the  level  of  readers  not  versed  in  the  mysteries  of  the  cal 
culus. 

No  men  of  science  in  this  country  are  more  honorably 
referred  to  in  the  "  Cosmos  "  than  the  Messrs.  Bond.  The 
observations  of  Mr.  Bond,  jun.  on  the  nebula  of  Andromeda, 
and  his  delineation  of  that  most  extraordinary  object,  have 
attracted  the  notice  of  European  Astronomers.  "  For  the 
first  time,  I  believe,"  says  Dr.  Nichols  in  his  Architecture  of 
the  Heavens,  "  first  at  least  in  so  marked  a  manner, — the 
existence  of  dark  lines  WITHIN  nebulae,  [these  Italics  and  Cap 
itals  are  Dr.  Nichols',]  or  as  part  of  their  structure,  was 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  275 

noticed  by  Mr.  Bond."  This  important  paper  and  another 
purely  demonstrative,  on  "  Some  methods  of  computing  the 
ratio  of  the  distances  of  a  Comet  from  the  Earth,"  in  the  third 
volume  of  the  new  series  of  the  Memoirs  of  the  American 
Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  and  still  more  his  remarkable 
paper  on  the  Kings  of  Saturn  in  the  fourth  volume  of  the  same 
series,  have,  with  his  other  publications,  given  Mr.  Bond,  jun. 
a  high  place,  not  merely  among  the  observers  but  among  the 
geometers  of  the  Age.  His  conclusion  from  his  observation 
of  the  phenomena  of  Saturn's  rings,  that  they  cannot  be  solid 
bodies,  confirmed  as  it  has  been,  by  the  subsequent  demon 
strations  of  Professors  Pierce  and  Maxwell  of  the  mechanical 
conditions  of  the  Saturnian  system,  are  certainly  among  the 
most  brilliant  results  of  Modern  Astronomical  Science. 

I  propose  in  another  paper,  to  pay  an  humble  tribute  to 
the  other  illustrious  dead  of  the  year. 


NUMBER   THIKTY. 

THE  ILLUSTRIOUS  DEAD  OF  1859— PRESCOTT,  BOND,  HALLAM, 
VON  HUMBOLDT. 

Simultaneous  death  of  Hallam  and  Prescott — Hallam  the  first  standard  -writer  of 
history  in  England  after  Hume,  Gibbon,  and  Robertson— Compared  with  those 
writers — Brief  account  of  the  History  of  Europe  in  the  middle  ages— Of  the 
Constitutional  history  of  England — Of  the  introduction  to  the  Literature  of  Europe 
for  the  fifteenth,  sixteenth,  and  seventeenth  centuries— Personal  History— Loss 
of  his  two  sons— Henry  counsels  his  father  not  to  accept  the  title  of  Baronet — 
Eeceives  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  from  Harvard  College — Letter 
of  acknowledgment. 

BY  the  arrival  of  the  next  steamer  from  Europe,  after  the 
death  of  Prescott.  the  public  mind  received  another  shock  in 
this  country  by  the  news  that  a  brother  Historian  had  passed 
away  in  England.  Hallam  had  gone  beyond  the  age  of  four 
score,  and  had  for  several  years  ceased  from  his  literary 
labors.  His  death  left  nothing  to  regret  as  to  the  completion 
of  his  works,  or  the  maturity  of  his  fame.  He  enjoyed  his 
well-earned  reputation,  in  a  serene  old  age  ;  the  lapse  of  time 
had  alleviated  the  weight  of  the  heavy  bereavement  which  he 
had  suffered  in  the  loss  of  his  two  noble  sons ;  and  he  found 
pleasure  in  the  reflection  that,  though  bereft  of  them,  his 
lineage  would  not  wholly  perish.  In  the  last  letter  which  I 
received  from  him,  not  written,  except  the  signature,  with  his 
own  hand,  he  says  : 

"  I  return  you  many  thanks  for  your  kind  recollection  of  me,  though 
the  pleasure  of  receiving  your  letter  was  much  diminished,  by  the  recol 
lection  that  we  can  never  meet  again  in  this  world.  I  continue  on  the 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  277 

whole  in  pretty  good  health,  but  I  am  become  very  lame  and  infirm  and 
unable  to  walk.  Still  I  should  be  thankful  that  I  am  free  from  organic 
complaints,  which  so  often  affect  people  at  my  very  advanced  age.  I 
have  the  happiness  of  living  in  the  same  house  with  my  daughter  both 
here  and  in  the  country,  for  we  have  a  house  in  Kent,  about  twelve  miles 
from  town,  where  we  pass  half  the  year.  I  have  two  grandchildren, 
one  of  them  only  a  few  weeks  old,  so  that  I  have  a  hope  of  surviving  in 
my  posterity." 

It  was  certainly  a  noticeable  coincidence,  that  two  such 
lights  in  the  intellectual  firmament  as  Hallam  and  Prescott, 
shining  with  such  brightness  in  the  same  department  of  polite 
letters,  should  have  been  extinguished  within  a  few  days  of 
each  other.  Having  during  my  residence  in  England,  from 
1841  to  1845,  been  honored  with  the  intimate  acquaintance,  I 
may  venture  to  say,  the  friendship  of  Mr.  Hallam,  and  with 
his  correspondence  since  my  return,  the  reader  will,  I  am  sure 
pardon  me,  even  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  months  since  his 
decease,  for  placing  on  record,  in  these  columns,  my  impres 
sions  of  his  literary  and  personal  character. 

After  the  last  of  the  three  great  English  historians  of  the 
Eighteenth  Century  had  passed  away,  no  writer  appeared  in 
the  same  department  sufficiently  distinguished,  to  be  consid 
ered  as  keeping  up  the  line  of  the  succession  in  that  country. 
In  this  country  historical  studies  had  hardly  commenced. 
Many  valuable  works  had  certainly  appeared,  on  both  sides 
of  the  Atlantic,  within  the  domain  of  history,  or  closely  bor 
dering  upon  it,  but  nothing  which  could  be  fairly,  placed  on  a 
level  with  Hume,  Gibbon,  and  Robertson.  At  length,  after 
mature  preparatory  studies  and  being  then  forty  years  of  age, 
Mr.  Hallam  in  1818  published  his  first,  and  in  the  opinion  of 
some  persons  his  ablest  work,  '*  A  View  of  the  State  of 
Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages."  This  work  did  not  claim  to  be 
a  History,  narrating  a  series  of  events  woven  into  unity  polit 
ical  or  territorial,  but  it  was  rather  a  series  of  historical  dis 
sertations,  presenting  a  comprehensive  view  of  the  chief  mat- 


278  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS. 

ters  of  interest  to  a  philosophical  inquirer,  in  the  period 
called  the  middle  ages.  A  work  of  this  kind  necessarily 
wanted  something  of  the  epic  attraction  of  a  great  historical 
work,  properly  so  called  ;  but  for  those  who  read,  not  for 
amusement  but  instruction,  it  had  its  counterbalancing  advan 
tages.  Without  possessing  the  same  charm  of  style  as  either 
of  the  three  great  writers  of  the  eighteenth  century,  it  is,  in 
some  important  respects,  of  higher  merit  than  either  of  them. 
In  consequence  of  the  great  advance  of  philological  studies, 
during  the  last  half  of  the  eighteenth  and  the  first  quarter  of 
the  nineteenth  centuries,  the  learning  of  Hallam  is  more  accu 
rate  and  critical  than  that  of  Gibbon,  though  not  displayed  in 
an  equal  array  of  citations,  which  in  "  the  Decline  and  Fall 
of  the  Koman  Empire  "  are  multiplied  with  superfluous  pro 
fusion,  and  which  are,  in  some  cases,  from  authorities  since 
become  obsolete.  It  is  a  still  greater  merit  of  Mr.  Hallam's 
work, — as  indeed  of  all  his  works, — that  they  are  wholly  free 
from  the  taint  of  irreverence,  which  poisons  Gibbons  magnifi 
cent  and  truly  monumental  history.  There  is  a  gravity  and 
dignity  in  the  speculations  of  a  few  of  the  sceptical  writers, 
which  commands  your  respect,  however  you  may  deplore 
their  tendency  and  recoil  from  their  results.  But  the  irony 
and  the  veiled  sarcasm  of  Gibbon  resolve  themselves  at  last 
into  nearly  the  worst  fault  of  a  writer,  Insincerity  ;  while  an 
ill  restrained  pruriency  occasionally  manifests  itself,  which 
excites  no  feelings  but  those  of  pity  and  disgust.  Mr.  Hal- 
lam's  history  far  exceeds  Hume's  in  range  of  topics,  in  depth 
of  investigation,  and  extent  and  accuracy  of  research ;  in  a 
knowledge  not  only  of  the  common  but  of  the  civil  law,  and 
especially  in  conscientious  dealing  with  his  authorities,  in 
which  respect,  Hume,  either  from  indolence,  or  a  certain  phi 
losophical  indifference,  was  far  from  exemplary.  I  cannot 
think  Hume  ever  intended  knowingly  and  wilfully  to  mistake 
or  garble  the  writers  whom  he  quotes  ;  but  those  who  follow 
in  his  track  will  occasionally  find  traces  of  a  carelessness, 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  279 

which  must  have  sprung,  either  from  an  unwillingness  to 
encounter  the  toil  of  a  laborious  collation  of  authorities,  or  a 
lofty  preference  of  his  own  theory  of  what  ought  to  be  true, 
over  the  homely  reality  of  actual  fact.  In  all  the  qualities  of 
a  first-rate  historian,  Hallam  is  far  superior  to  Robertson, 
with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  a  certain  attractive  ease  and 
winning  flow  of  style,  (mere  style  in  distinction  from  the 
manner  of  treating  a  subject,)  by  which  you  are  borne  along 
in  the  pages  of  the  illustrious  Scotsman,  whose  great  advan 
tage  lies  in  the  interest  of  his  subjects.  Mr.  Hallam  modestly 
replies,  that  he  had  more  in  view  the  instruction  of  the  young 
than  the  improvement  of  mature  readers.  "  I  dare  not,"  says 
he,  "  appeal  with  confidence  to  the  tribunal  of  those  superior 
judges  who,  having  bestowed  a  more  undivided  attention  on 
the  particular  objects  that  have  interested  them,  may  justly 
deem  such  general  sketches  imperfect  and  superficial ;  but  my 
labors  will  not  have  proved  fruitless,  if  they  shall  conduce  to 
stimulate  the  reflection,  to  guide  the  researches,  to  correct 
the  prejudices,  and  to  animate  the  liberal  and  virtuous  senti 
ments  of  INQUISITIVE  YOUTH."  Mr.  Hallam's  History  of  the 
Middle  Ages  immediately  assumed  and  has  ever  maintained 
the  character  of  a  classical  work. 

After  an  interval  of  nine  years,  "  The  Constitutional 
History  of  England  from  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Henry 
the  Seventh  to  the  close  of  the  reign  of  George  the  Second," 
was  published.  This  too  is  a  work  of  standard  excellence. 
Discussing  questions  which,  at  that  time  more  than  now, 
divided  opinion  in  England,  Mr.  Hallam's  opinions  did  not  in 
all  points  command  universal  assent.  By  the  Tory  journals 
and  the  Tory  politicians  it  was  characterized  as  the  work  of  a 
"  decided  partisan."  But  this  was  itself  mere  partisan  dis 
paragement.  Mr.  Hallam  himself  says,  with  a  noble  con 
sciousness  of  impartiality,  that  no  one  will  suspect  him  of 
being  a  "  blind  zealot."  The  adverse  judgment  just  quoted 
has  not  been  confirmed  by  the  verdict  of  the  generation  which 


280          THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

has  filled  the  stage  since  his  work  appeared.  It  has,  on  the 
contrary  approved  itself  more  and  more  as  a  fair,  unprejudiced 
Treatise.  Such  in  all  probability  will  be  the  verdict  of  after 
time ;  such  is  the  light  in  which  it  is,  and  no  doubt  always 
will  be,  regarded  in  this  country,  where  the  Constitutional 
History  of  England  will  always  be  studied  with  nearly  as 
much  interest  as  our  own.  In  America  Mr.  Hallam's  work 
will  no  doubt  always  be  regarded  as  founded  on  those  true 
principles  of  Constitutional  law,  which  are  common  to  all 
representative  governments.  Mr.  Hallam's  work  afforded, 
what  was  greatly  wanted,  a  corrective  of  the  political  theories 
of  Hume.  It  is  owing,  I  am  confident,  in  no  small  degree,  to 
the  gradually  increasing  influence  of  Mr.  Hallam's  "  Constitu 
tional  History,"  that  the  theoretical  Toryism  of  former  times, 
and  which  was  still  vigorous  under  George  the  Third,  has 
almost  wholly  disappeared  in  England.  His  work,  I  am  in 
clined  to  think,  is  generally  accepted  as  an  accurate  deduction 
of  the  history  and  a  fair  statement  of  the  principles  of  the 
British  Government.  It  has  often  been  said,  and  never  to  my 
knowledge  contradicted,  that  it  was  from  this  work,  under  the 
guidance  of  the  late  Lord  Melbourne,  that  the  present  Sov 
ereign  of  England  received  her  education  in  the  Constitution 
of  the  Kingdom,  of  which  she  was  one  day,  with  a  rare  union 
of  manly  vigor  and  female  gentleness,  to  wield  the  sceptre. 

Mr.  Hallam's  third  great  work,  "  Introduction  to  the  Liter 
ature  of  Europe  for  the  fifteenth,  sixteenth,  and  seventeenth 
Centuries  "  was  published  twelve  or  thirteen  years  later,  and 
when  he  was  now  about  sixty  years  of  age.  This,  with  the 
exception  of  a  supplementary  volume  of  notes  to  his  History 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  was  his  last  work.  It  was  prepared 
under  a  cloud  of  sorrow,  which  gathered  over  his  house,  in 
consequence  of  the  untimely  decease  of  his  eldest  and  much 
loved  son.  It  is  a  work  of  vast  erudition,  but,  from  its 
encyclopedic  character,  of  unequal  execution.  There  is  how 
ever  no  quackery  in  it.  When  he  has  occasion  to  speak  of  an 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNCXN  PAPERS.  281 

Author  whom  he  has  not  read,  he  tells  you  so  ;  and  when  he 
pronounces  a  judgment  as  his  own,  you  know  that  it  is  his 
own, — the  fruit  of  his  own  inquiry  and  reflection.  It  is  not 
like  so  many  similar  works,  a  compilation  without  acknowl 
edgment  from  former  writers.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  a  work 
of  original  research,  and  that  too.  not  seldom  in  unfamiliar 
quarters.  Thus  he  first  pointed  out  the  similarity  of  thought 
between  the  celebrated  passage  on  the  Universality  of  Law, 
at  the  close  of  the  first  book  of  Hooker's  Ecclesiastical  polity, 
with  a  passage  in  the  now  nearly  forgotten  work  of  the 
Jesuit  Suarez,  (de  Legibus  et  Deo  Legislatore)  '  of  Laws  and 
God  the  Lawgiver."  Impartiality,  good  sense,  pure  taste, 
freedom  from  extravagance,  and  a  clear  and  expressive  though 
rather  elaborate  style,  characterize  this,  as  they  do  all  his 
works. 

Of  personal  history  there  is  but  little  to  record  in  the  life 
of  Mr.  Hallam.  He  was  educated  to  the  law,  but  never 
engaged  in  its  practice.  He,  however,  attached  great  impor 
tance  to  his  legal  studies,  as  one  of  his  qualifications  for  writ 
ing  the  Constitutional  History  of  England.  He  speaks  with 
emphasis  of  Hume's  deficiency  in  this  respect,  though  he 
treats  his  great  predecessor  with  commendable  impartiality, 
considering  the  antagonism  of  their  political  views.  In  his 
family  relations,  he  was  at  once  the  happiest  and  the  unhap- 
piest  of  men  ; — the  happiest  in  being  the  father  of  two  sons 
of  rare  endowments  and  brightest  promise ;  the  unhappiest 
in  being  called  to  part  with  them  in  the  morning  of  their 
days.  Arthur  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-two ;  his  memory 
has  been  embalmed  in  the  crystal  tears  of  Tennyson.  Henry, 
on  whom  Mr.  Hallam's  affection  had  centred  with  twofold  ten 
derness  after  the  loss  of  his  brother,  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-six, 
leaving  his  father  broken-hearted,  but  for  the  hope  of  a  re 
union  in  a  better  world.  I  had  the  pleasure  occasionally  to 
see  the  last  named  of  the  brothers  at  their  father's  table ;  and 
in  1843  it  was  my  good  fortune  to  meet  him  at  the  rooms  of 


282  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

my  young  friend,  Mr.  Charles  Bristed,  in  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge.  An  interesting  memoir  of  this  most  amiable 
and  hopeful  young  man,  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Bristed,  has 
been  reprinted  in  England. — One  trait  of  generous  feeling 
and  honest  filial  pride  has  been  related  to  me  of  him  by  a 
common  friend.  When  Sir  Robert  Peel  tendered  to  Mr. 
Hallam  the  hereditary  title  of  Baronet, — the  highest  title  of 
honor  ever  bestowed  in  England  on  a  man  of  letters,  till  Lord 
Macaulay  was  raised  to  the  peerage, — Mr.  Hallam  said  he 
would  be  governed  by  his  son's  wishes.  Henry  on  being  con 
sulted,  answered  that  as  far  as  his  feelings  were  concerned,  he 
was  content  to  be  known  as  the  son  of  Henry  Hallam,  a  name 
to  which  no  title  should  give  added  dignity. 

Mr.  Hallam,  like  all  the  distinguished  authors  in  England, 
was,  in  proportion  to  our  population,  more  extensively  read  in 
this  country  than  at  home.  This  arises  from  the  greater 
cheapness  of  the  American  Editions,  and  the  more  extensive 
diffusion  of  education  throughout  all  classes  of  the  commu 
nity.  I  reflect  with  pleasure,  that,  on  my  proposal,  he  re 
ceived  in  1848  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  from 
Harvard  College,  and  not  till  the  same  year,  from  his  own 
Oxford.  The  following  letter,  acknowledging  his  degree, 
though  it  has  been  published  before,  will  I  think  be  generally 
interesting  to  my  readers  ;  but  few  of  whom  I  suppose  have 
seen  it. 

"  CLIFTON,  26  Oct.,  1848. 

"Mr  DEAR  MR.  EVERETT. — It  has  given  me  the  greatest  satisfaction  to 
receive  the  Diploma  of  the  Senate  of  Harvard  College  conferring  on  me 
the  high  honor  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  an  honor  even  enhanced  by  the  eulogy 
which,  through  the  medium  of  a  very  classical  Latinity,  that  distinguished 
body  has  been  pleased  to  bestow  upon  my  several  publications. 

I  have  already  in  the  present  year  received  a  similar  honor  from  my 
own  University,  that  of  Oxford.  It  will  be  my  pride  for  the  remainder 
of  my  days,  to  reflect  that  not  only  at  home,  where  I  might  better  ex 
pect  it,  but  in  a  land  which  it  has  not  been  permitted  me  to  visit,  my 
labors  in  the  field  of  literature,  deficient  as  I  feel  them  to  be,  and  perhaps 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEKS.  283 

unequal  to  what  I  had  once  hoped  to  have  been  their  extent,  have  ob 
tained  a  reward  of  public  approbation,  so  ample  and  so  honorable,  as 
has  been  allotted  to  them.  The  admiration  of  literary  merit,  (and  I 
must  not  now  be  understood  as  referring  to  myself,)  has  become  of  late 
years  very  characteristic  of  America.  It  displays  itself  with  a  noble,  and 
we  may  say  juvenile  enthusiasm,  which  we  are  far  from  equalling  in  Europe. 
Nothing  is  more  likely  to  maintain  that  natural  affection  between  those 
who  spring  from  common  ancestors  and  speak  a  common  language, 
which  every  wise  and  good  man  on  each  side  of  the  ocean  desires  to  see. 
I  request  you  to  return  my  most  sincere  thanks  to  the  Fellows  of 
Harvard  College.  To  yourself  I  need  not  say  that  I  am  peculiarly  in 
debted,  not  only  for  the  share  you  have  had  in  conferring  this  honor 
upon  me,  but  for  many  testimonials  of  your  friendship,  during  the  too 
short  period  of  your  residence  in  Great  Britain. 

Believe  me,  my  dear  Mr.  Everett,  very  faithfully  yours, 

HENRY  HALLAM." 


NUMBER    TIIIETY-ONE. 

THE  ILLUSTRIOUS  DEAD  OF  1859— PRESCOTT,  BOND,  HALL  AM, 
VON  HUMBOLDT. 

The  year  1769  famous  for  the  birth  of  great  men — The  memory  of  Humboldt  asso 
ciated  with  America— His  unsuccessful  plans  before  coming  to  this  continent— His 
great  reputation  founded  on  his  American  works — His  place  at  the  head  of  the  men 
of  Science  of  the.  day — Great  age  to  which  his  literary  labors  were  protracted — 
Accustomed  to  sleep  but  four  hours  in  the  twenty-four — His  social  disposition — 
Acquaintance  of  the  writer  with  Mr.  von  Humboldt  in  1818— His  liberal  appreci 
ation  of  others — Sits  to  Mr.  Wight  of  Boston  for  his  portrait — Kemarks  on  the 
assertion  that  he  was  an  Atheist. 

LAST  of  the  Illustrious  dead  of  the  year  in  order,  first  in 
renown,  stands  the  great  name  of  Alexander  von  Humboldt, 
who,  at  the  close  of  a  life  prolonged  to  fourscore  years  and 
ten,  and  passed  in  studious  activity  to  the  last,  was  placed  by 
general  consent  at  the  head  of  the  Philosophers  of  the  Age. 
The  year  in  which  he  was  born,  1769,  is  distinguished  for 
the  birth  of  more  great  men  than  have  been  born,  perhaps,  in 
any  other  year  ;  Napoleon,  Wellington,  Cuvier,  von  Hum 
boldt.  Schiller  and  Canning  have  been  added  to  the  list ;  but 
Schiller  was  born  in  1759  and  Canning  in  1770.  The  current 
year  will,  in  all  human  probability,  be  long  remembered  in 
history  for  military  and  political  events  of  extreme  impor 
tance  ;  it  will  certainly  be  long  remembered  for  the  decease 
of  the  four  great  men  whose  names  stand  at  the  head  of  this 
article,  (and  who  knows  what  names  the  remaining  months 
may  add  to  the  solemn  list  ?  *)  but  it  cannot  fail  to  be  spoken 

*  Washington  Irving  and  Lord  Macaulay  died  after  this  was  written. 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.          285 

of,  in  after  times,  as  the  year  in  which  Humboldt  died.  It  is 
good  to  pause  upon  such  an  event,  and  to  hold  up  a  name  like 
his  to  reverent  contemplation.  The  ancient  Egyptians  sat  in 
judgment  on  their  dead  Pharaohs.  The  historian  does  not 
tell  us  how  the  tribunal  was  composed,  or  the  impartiality 
of  its  sentences  secured.  The  enlightened  Public  opinion  of 
the  world  is  the  great  Tribunal  to  which  the  mighty  of  the 
earth  are  amenable ;  and  who  would  not  prize  the  bloodless 
wreath  decreed  at  that  bar  to  Cuvier,  and  Humboldt,  before 
the  golden  crown  or  the  blood-stained  laurels  of  monarchs  or 
conquerors  1  The  career  of  men  so  illustrious  as  Humboldt 
cannot  be  expected,  in  many  points,  to  furnish  examples  for 
the  mass  of  mankind ; — and  yet  with  all  the  superiority  of 
native  talent,  which  makes  him  an  exception  to  the  ordinary 
conditions  of  humanity,  there  is  much  in  his  life  and  character 
with  which  all  men  sympathize, — which  all  may  emulate  as 
all  admire. 

We  at  least  in  America  should  neglect  no  act  of  appro 
priate  homage  to  his  great  name.  The  foundations  of  his 
fame  were  laid  on  this  continent.  Here  the  most  laborious 
years  of  his  life  were  passed  ;  for  his  expedition  to  Siberia  in 
after  life,  less  laborious  even  while  it  lasted,  was  accomplished 
in  less  than  a  twelvemonth.  It  seemed  indeed  as  if  a  Provi 
dential  interposition  guided  him  to  the  new  wrorld  ;  for  it  was 
only  after  three  other  projects  had  been  baffled,  that  the  path 
was  unexpectedly  opened  to  America.  Having  educated  him 
self  as  a  scientific  traveller,  he  first  conceived  the  plan  of 
travelling  in  Egypt,  but  the  French  expedition  made  it  neces 
sary  to  abandon  that  design.  He  next  thought  of  attaching 
himself  to  the  voyage  of  circumnavigation,  which  the  French 
government  was  preparing  under  Admiral  Baudin.  The  war 
with  Austria  broke  out,  and  diverted  the  funds  assigned  by 
the  Directory  to  this  expedition.  "  Cruelly  deceived,"  says 
he,  "  in  my  hopes,  and  beholding  the  plans  which  I  had  been 
forming  for  several  years  of  my  life  destroyed  in  a  day,  I 


286  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

sought,  as  at  a  venture,  the  most  expeditious  manner  of  quit 
ting  Europe,  and  plunging  into  some  enterprise  which  might 
console  ine  for  what  I  suffered."  With  these  feelings,  and 
having  made  at  Paris  the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Skioldebrand, 
the  Swedish  consul  at  Algiers,  he  formed  a  plan  for  exploring 
the  Alpine  region  of  Central  America.  The  Swedish  frigate, 
which  was  to  transport  the  Consul,  Mr.  von  Humboldt,  and 
his  friend  and  companion  M.  de  Bonpland,  had  not  arrived  at 
Marseilles.  For  two  months  they  expected  her  in  vain,  and 
then  learned  that  she  had  suffered  severely  in  a  storm,  and, 
having  put  into  Cadiz  to  refit,  could  not  be  expected  at  Mar 
seilles  till  the  Spring.  They  engaged  their  passage  in  a  Ra- 
gusan  sloop  for  Tunis ;  war  broke  out  between  the  Tunisian 
regency  and  the  French  Republic,  which  made  it  unsafe  to 
proceed  by  that  conveyance,  and  they  passed  into  Spain,  hop 
ing  to  find  there  the  means  of  transit  to  America.  The  Min 
ister  of  Saxony  at  Madrid  procured  for  his  countryman,  then 
thirty  years  old,  a  favorable  introduction  to  the  President  of 
the  Council  of  the  Indies,  which  resulted  in  full  permission  to 
explore  the  dominions  of  Spain  in  America  and  the  East. 
This  permission  was  not  withdrawn  on  the  fall  of  M.  de 
Urquijo  from  power.  "  During  the  five  years,"  says  Mr.  von 
Humboldt,  "  that  we  traversed  the  new  Continent,  we  per 
ceived  not  the  least  appearance  of  distrust ;  and  it  is  grateful 
to  me  here  to  recollect,  that,  in  the  midst  of  the  most  afflict 
ing  privations,  and  struggling  against  the  obstacles  which 
arise  from  the  savage  state  of  the  country,  we  have  never  had 
to  complain  of  the  injustice  of  man."'  Thus  it  \vas  only  after 
the  thrice  experienced  disappointment  of  previous  projects, 
that  Mr.  von  Humboldt  entered  on  the  great  work  of  explor 
ing  the  central  regions  of  this  Continent ;  an  enterprise  most 
agreeable  to  his  taste  and  the  most  likely  to  reward  his  inves 
tigations,  but  which,  owing  to  the  jealousy  of  the  Spanish 
government,  he  had  not  in  the  outset  ventured  to  contem 
plate. 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  287 

It  will  not,  I  think,  be  denied  that  the  great  reputation  of 
Mr.  von  Humboldt  was  built  upon  his  American  expedition, 
and  the  scientific,  historical,  statistical  and  miscellaneous  works 
for  which  it  furnished  the  materials.  No  one,  of  course,  would 
claim  for  that  remarkable  series  of  publications,  that  it  stands 
on  a  par,  as  a  Philosophical  treatise  or  a  digest  of  natural 
science,  with  the  "  Cosmos."  The  want  of  systematic  unity 
alone  would  oppose  such  a  claim ;  but  it  will  be  agreed,  I 
think,  by  the  students  of  Mr.  von  Humboldt's  writings,  that 
but  for  the  voyage  to  America,  and  the  researches  connected 
with  it,  the  observations  in  every  department  of  natural  his 
tory  which  he  had  made  during  the  progress  of  the  voyage, 
and  the  subsequent  studies  required  for  the  preparation  of  the 
numerous  works  in  which  the  results  are  given  to  the  world, 
and  which  occupied  him  for  twenty  years  after  his  return, 
"  Cosmos "  would  hardly  have  been  composed.  Even  the 
remarkable  work  written  in  later  life,  Examen  critique  de 
Vhistoire  de  la  Geographic  du  nouveau  continent  (critical  Ex 
amination  of  the  History  of  the  Geography  of  the  new  Conti 
nent)  was  the  natural  fruit  of  this  American  expedition. 

It  is  admitted  that  Mr.  von  Humboldt  stood  at  the  head 
of  the  men  of  science  not  only  of  his  own  age,  but  I  think  we 
may  add,  with  the  diffidence  which  belongs  to  such  a  judg 
ment,  of  any  age.  He  takes  this  rank  not  only  in  virtue  of 
what  he  was,  but  in  spite  of  what  he  was  not.  Like  Bacon 
he  owes  his  position  in  the  intellectual  world  to  his  grasp  of 
the  whole  domain  of  science,  and  the  majestic  range  of  his 
generalizations.  Among  the  contemporaries  of  his  long  life  are 
names  that  take  precedence  of  his,  in  almost  every  depart 
ment,  such  as  Cuvier,  La  Place,  Sir  Humphry  Davy,  Gauss  ; 
I  omit  the  living,  which  will  readily  occur  to  the  reader.  As 
there  was  no  one  speciality,  to  which  he  exclusively  gave  him 
self,  so  there  is  no  disparagement  in  saying,  that  in  almost 
every  branch  of  science,  there  were  individuals,  who  had 
pushed  their  researches  beyond  his.  But  it  belonged  to 


288  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

Humboldt  to  take  an  imperial  survey  of  the  whole  field  of 
Science,  and  to  mould  the  mass  of  materials,  derived  from 
the  individual  researches  of  others,  into  one  grand  system  ; — 
himself  an  Intellectual  Cosmos,  combining  the  Geographer, 
the  Antiquary,  the  Geologist,  the  Chemist,  in  short  every 
separate  title  in  his  own  person,  akin  to  the  scientific  "  Cos 
mos  "  of  his  own  formation. 

Nothing  is  more  characteristic  of  his  career  as  a  philoso 
pher,  than  the  length  of  time  during  which  his  labors,  both  as 
an  investigator  and  a  writer,  were  carried  on ;  the  continu 
ance  of  his  physical  and  intellectual  activity,  long  after  attain 
ing  the  age  at  which  the  majority  of  men,  weary  of  toil, 
satisfied  with  success,  or  reconciled  to  the  want  of  it,  sink  into 
repose.  He  was  sixty  years  old,  wrhen,  at  the  often  repeated 
request  of  the  Russian  Government,  he  undertook  with  Gus- 
tavus  Rose  and  Ehrenberg,  that  expedition  to  the  Oural  and 
Altai  mountains  of  which  the  fruits  are  recorded  in  his  Asia 
Centrale  /  Recherches  sur  les  chaines  de  montagnes  et  la  clima- 
tologie  comparee.  "  Researches  on  the  mountain  chains  and 
comparative  climatology  of  Central  Asia."  He  tells  us,  in 
the  preface  to  the  first  published  portion  of  "  Cosmos,"  that 
with  the  exception  of  the  first  forty  pages  of  the  work,  it  was 
wholly  written  and  for  the  first  time,  in  the  years  1843  and 
1844,  and  consequently  when  he  was  seventy -four  years  of 
age.  A  fifth  volume  has  been  finished  within  the  past  year. 

But  this  length  of  days,  however  remarkable,  is  not  the 
only  measure  of  his  astonishing  vigor  of  body  and  mind.  It 
may  concern  at  least  those  who  are  not  so  far  advanced  in 
life  as  to  have  their  habits  hopelessly  fixed,  to  know  another 
of  the  facts,  wThich  account  for  the  vast  amount  of  intellectual 
labor  which  he  was  able  to  perform.  Living  within  a  few 
months  to  the  age  of  ninety,  he  lived  for  all  purposes  of 
scientific  research  and  literary  labor,  another  life  of  forty  or 
fifty  years,  in  consequence  of  having  accustomed  himself,  from 
the  time  he  grew  up  to  manhood,  to  little  more  than  four 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  289 

hours'  sleep  in  the  twenty  four.  I  think  I  can  state  this  on 
his  own  authority,  for  I  heard  it  asserted  in  his  presence,  and 
listened  to  by  him  with  an  assenting  smile.  If  then  we  con 
sider  four  hours  of  daily  study,  as  a  pretty  good  day's  work, 
at  least  for  one  whose  time  must  have  been  so  much  broken 
in  upon,  and  who  worked  to  so  much  purpose,  we  may  com 
pute  that,  in  contenting  himself  with  four  hours'  sleep,  in  lieu 
of  the  seven  or  eight  required  by  most  men,  he  really  added 
forty  or  fifty  working  years  to  his  four  score  years  and  ten. 
Whether  this  was  the  result  of  the  excellence  of  his  constitu 
tion,  abstinence  from  the  great  causes  of  weariness  and  ex 
haustion,  cheerful  temper,  or  in  some  degree  of  all  combined, 
I  cannot  say  ;  probably  the  latter. 

At  any  rate,  his  disposition  was  eminently  genial.  My 
acquaintance  with  him  began  in  the  winter  of  1817-1818  at 
Paris,  where  I  frequently  met  him  in  society.  His  company 
of  course  was  eagerly  sought,  and  no  individual  of  eminence 
was  more  frequently  seen,  as  far  as  my  means  of  observation 
extended,  at  the  dinner  table  and  in  the  salons  of  Paris.  Pie 
was  then  apparently  engaged  in  those  geographical  researches, 
of  which  the  results  are  given  in  the  work  above  named,  on 
the  history  of  the  Geography  of  this  continent.  I  passed 
many  happy  and  instructive  hours  with  him  at  the  Institute 
in  looking  over  the  early  maps  of  this  country.  He  was  good 
enough  to  give  me,  on  leaving  Paris,  letters  to  his  brother 
William,  at  that  time  the  Prussian  Minister  in  London,  with 
whom  it  was  my  happiness  in  that  way  to  become  intimately 
acquainted.  In  the  year  1842  Baron  Alexander  von  II um- 
boldt  came  to  London,  (in  the  suite  of  the  King  of  Prussia, 
who  visited  England  to  attend  the  Christening  of  the  Prince 
of  Wales,)  and  I  had  the  pleasure  of  renewing  my  acquaint 
ance  with  him  during  his  brief  stay.  It  is  scarcely  necessary 
to  say  that,  at  a  time  when  London  was  more  than  usually 
thronged  with  the  celebrities  of  Europe,  he  was  the  centre 
of  the  greatest  attraction. 
13 


290  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEfiS. 

Enjoying  his  world-wide  fame,  his  feelings  were  propor- 
tionably  catholic.  Nothing  more  characterizes  his  works 
than  the  total  absence  of  the  spirit  of  invidious  criticism — the 
canker  which  eats  so  deeply  '  into  our  modern  literature. 
When  other  authors  are  named,  (and  how  few  are  the  contempo 
rary  writers  of  solid  scientific  merit,  not  named  in  some  part 
of  the  long  series  of  his  works  1)  the  amplest  justice  is 
always  done  them.  He  was  wholly  free  from  that  carping 
disposition,  which  can  see  nothing  in  a  work  of  science,  litera 
ture,  or  art,  but  its  defects ;  and  from  that  hateful  temper, 
which  seeks  to  build  its  own  reputation  or  that  of  a  favorite 
on  the  ruins  of  the  reputation  of  a  competitor. 

I  reflect  with  pleasure  that  it  was  in  my  power,  through 
the  medium  of  my  much  valued  friend  Mr.  D.  D.  Barnard, 
then  our  Minister  at  Berlin,  to  aid  a  meritorious  young  artist, 
Mr.  M.  Wight,  in  procuring  an  opportunity  to  paint  the  por 
trait  of  Baron  Humboldt.  This  of  course  was  a  favor  not 
likely  to  be  asked  of  a  person  of  such  eminence,  whose  time 
was  so  precious,  and  whom  so  many  artists  were  eager  to  paint 
and  to  model.  Mr.  Wight,  however,  succeeded  so  well  in  a 
portrait  of  Mr.  Barnard,  who  enjoyed  the  intimacy  of  Baron 
Humboldt,  that,  on  seeing  it,  he  consented  to  give  our  young 
countryman  four  long  sittings.  In  this  way  he  was  able  to 
make  an  admirable  likeness  of  the  Illustrious  Philosopher, 
which  has  been  well  engraved  in  this  country. 

I  was  not  without  hope  of  seeing  him  again  in  the  course 
of  the  present  season.  Disappointed  in  this,  it  is  a  subject 
of  pleasing,  though  sad  reflection  to  me,  that  the  same  kind 
feelings,  of  which  he  gave  me  many  valued  proofs  and  assur 
ances  in  my  younger  days,  were  manifested  to  my  children, 
while  on  a  visit  to  Berlin  last  August.  "  With  the  scarce 
legible  hand  of  the  old  man  of  eighty-nine,"  he  addresses 
words  of  friendly  salutation  to  them  and  of  kindly  remem 
brance  to  me,  from  "  the  traveller  of  the  Cordilleras  and  the 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS.  291 

Steppes  of  Siberia," — the  joint  character  in  which  he  wished 
to  be  known  in  after  times. 

The  strange  assertion  has  lately  been  made,  that  "  Cos 
mos  "  is  a  system  of  philosophical  Atheism,  slightly  veiled, 
from  motives  of  prudence,  and  that  even  the  name  of  God 
does  not  occur  in  it.  This  last  statement  is  notoriously  in 
accurate,  and  for  the  first  assertion  there  is  not,  as  far  as  I 
know,  the  slightest  foundation.  Humboldt,  in  this  as  in  his 
other  works,  proposes  to  treat  only  the  phenomena  revealed 
to  the  senses ;  but  he  recognizes  the  reality  of  spiritual  and 
moral  relations,  though  justly  considering  them  above  the 
province  of  demonstrative  science.  Between  him  and  his 
brother,  William,  undeniably  a  man  of  the  deepest  religious 
convictions,  there  prevailed  an  entire  sympathy,  and  he  cites 
with  approval  from  the  works  of  the  latter,  passages  which 
recognize  the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion.  On  the  appear 
ance  of  the  Chevalier  Bunsen's  "  Signs  of  the  Times  "  in  1855, 
Humboldt  rose  from  its  perusal,  and  on  the  same  day  ad 
dressed  a  letter  of  two  sheets  to  the  Author,  expressive  of  his 
sympathy  and  approval.  In  his  "  Cosmos  "  he  refers  to  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures  with  respect,  and  even  bestows  on  the 
Hundred  and  fourth  Psalm  that  much  honored  name  of  "  Cos 
mos,"  which  he  had  appropriated  to  the  crowning  work  of  his 
literary  life.  He  distinctly  recognizes  the  purifying  influence 
of  the  new  faith,  in  contrast  with  the  decaying  paganism  of 
the  Ancient  world.  So  far  is  it  from  being  true,  that  he 
"  knows  nothing  of  a  God  in  Creation,"  that  he  asserts  in 
terms,  that  it  was  the  tendency  of  the  Christian  mind  to 
prove,  from  the  order  of  the  Universe  and  the  beauty  of  na 
ture,  the  greatness  and  goodness  of  the  Creator ; "  and  he 
traces  the  growing  taste  for  natural  description  observable 
in  the  writers  of  the  new  faith,  to  the  tendency  "  to  glorify  the 
Deity  in  his  works." 

In  denying  the  imputed  Atheism  of  Humboldt,  (on  which 
I  may  speak  more  at  length  on  a  future  occasion,)  I  build 


292  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

nothing  on  the  occurrence  of  the  name  of  the  Supreme  Being 
in  his  publications.  No  writers  more  freely  use  the  great 
and  sacred  name  than  those  of  the  Pantheistic  or,  what  is  the 
same  thing,  Atheistic  School,  meaning,  however,  not  the  All- 
wise  All-powerful  BEING,  who  created  and  wrho  rules  with 
sovereign  intelligence  the  Heavens  and  the  earth,  but  the 
aggregate  of  existing  things ;  making  men  and  beasts,  and 
trees  and  stones,  and  dust  and  ashes,  part  and  parcel  of  what 
they  call  God. 


NUMBER    THIRTY-TWO. 

ITALIAN   NATIONALITY. 

Eeasons  of  State  and  Public  opinion  mingled  in  the  present  struggle— Growth  of 
liberal  views  in  Italy— How  far  the  feelings  of  the  masses  will  affect  the  result  of 
the  contest — The  different  views  of  the  different  parties — Elements  of  nationality 
possessed  by  the  Italians— A  compact  geographical  position— A  fusion  of  the 
original  races — One  language — A  common  faith — In  all  these  respects  their  claim 
to  an  independent  nationality  equal  to  that  of  any  of  the  great  powers  of  Europe 
— To  what  is  the  want  of  it  owing  ? — By  no  means  to  the  degeneracy  of  the 
population. 

THE  eyes  of  the  civilized  world  are  now  turned  to  Italy. 
To  whatever  quarter  of  the  globe  the  descendants  of  a 
European  stock  are  scattered,  or  European  languages  spoken 
in  the  old  world  or  the  new,  the  arrival  of  every  mail  is 
watched  for  news  from  Italy.  The  steamers  are  too  slow ; 
the  electric  telegraph  itself  is  too  slow,  to  satisfy  the  intense 
and  universal  desire  for  Italian  news.  To  speculate  on  the 
probable  course  of  events,  in  a  struggle  like  this,  is  as  idle  as 
it  would  be  to  speculate  on  the  cast  of  the  dice ;  particularly 
when  your  anticipations  are  to  be  recorded  in  papers,  which, 
like  these,  are  not  to  be  read  till  a  month  after  they  are 
written.  Let  us  resign  the  eventful  future  to  the  sole  arbiter 
of  its  mysteries — Time — and  dwell  for  a  moment  upon  the  re 
nowned  and  beautiful  field  of  the  mighty  contest.  Haply  we, 
too,  separated  by  the  world-dividing  ocean  from  the  conflict, 
— may  derive  a  salutary  lesson  from  the  contemplation. 

Two  elements  totally  different  mingle  in  this  Titanic 
struggle,  the  policy  of  the  Monarchs  who  conduct  it  and 


294  THE  MOUNT  VERXOX  TAPERS. 

public  opinion.  There  is  so  much  of  personal  motive 
and  feeling,  so  much  secret  and  partially  disclosed  diplomacy, 
so  much  local  history  which  never  can  be  known  at  a  distance, 
comprehended  in  all  questions  of  State  policy,  that  they  can 
rarely  be  judged  of  with  entire  accuracy  by  contemporaries. 
On  questions  of  this  kind  appearances  at  times  mislead,  de 
ceive,  betray  ;  the  Truth  is  told  by  Events,  and  by  them  only 
in  a  continuous  series,  brought  up  to  a  decisive  result. 

The  other  element,  and  more  efficient  with  every  year  of 
modern  progress,  is  the  spirit  and  feeling  of  the  masses  of  the 
community, — of  the  People.  This  has  always  of  course,  in 
the  long  run,  had  a  vast  influence  in  determining  the  march 
of  public  affairs,  especially  in  all  cases  where  religious  convic 
tions  are  appealed  too.  But  in  casting  the  eye  over  the  pages 
of  Italian  History  for  the  last  three  centuries,  it  will  not  be 
easy  to  find  one  great  political  and  territorial  arrangement, 
which  has  been  decided  by  any  thing  but  State  Policy  ;  the 
rival  interests  and  power  of  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  and 
the  Kings  of  France,  Spain,  Sardinia,  and  Naples. 

This  state  of  things  has  certainly  been  changing  within  the 
last  hundred  years.  Nowhere  was  there  a  quicker  or  a 
keener  sympathy  felt  within  the  American  Revolution  than  in 
Italy.  One  of  the  very  best  histories  of  the  revolutionary 
war  is  the  work  of  an  Italian.  The  Grand  Duke  Leopold 
of  Tuscany  was  a  liberal  and  enlightened,  though  eccentric 
prince,  and  encouraged  the  diffusion  of  liberal  ideas.  The 
Italian  publicists  of  the  last  century,  Beccaria,  Galiani,  Fil- 
angieri,  were  men  of  enlarged  and  generous  views.  All  the 
substantial  conquests  gained  for  rational  Liberty,  through  the 
influence  of  the  French  Revolution,  were  gained  as  much  for 
Italy  as  for  France.  Her  modern  popular  literature ; — the 
writers  who  have  wron  the  hearts  of  the  Italian  race,  however 
politically  or  territorially  divided,  Alfieri,  Foscolo,  Niccolini, 
Manzoni  and  Silvio  Pellico,  in  their  best  days,  and  their  asso 
ciates,  are  all  eminently  popular.  In  this  way  and  through 


THE  MOUNT  YERXOX  PAPERS.  295 

these  agencies,  rendered  more  powerful  and  sometimes  mis 
directed  by  the  various  secret  revolutionary  societies,  a  very 
powerful  public  opinion  has  been  formed  in  favor  of  political 
reform,  free  institutions  of  government,  independence  of  the 
stranger,  and  Italian  Nationality.  The  real  strength  of  this 
opinion  remains  to  be  seen,  and  with  reference  to  the  senti 
ment  of  Italian  Nationality  particularly,  time  only  can  show 
how  far  it  will  overcome  the  previously  existing  repulsions 
that  have  existed  between  the  minor  nationalities,  so  to  call 
them,  into  which  Italy  in  the  lapse  of  time  has  been  broken 
up.  Thus  far,  this  recently  created  element  of  popular 
strength  has  disclosed  a  power  and  vitality  for  which,  as  we 
apprehend,  few  persons  were  prepared.  Without  firing  a 
gun  or  shedding  a  drop  of  bood,  it  has  won  for  the  allies  the 
greatest  territorial  acquisition  which  up  to  this  time  (22d 
of  June)  they  have  gained ;  it  has  given  them  the  beautiful 
Grand  Duchy  of  Tuscany  and  Lucca,  the  most  important  and 
significant  occurrence  which  has  yet  taken  place. 

How  far  this  Italian  feeling  may  operate  in  Lombardy 
is,  at  this  moment,  a  question  not  less  important  than  the 
strength  of  Verona  and  the  depth  of  the  Adige,  Rivers  and 
fortresses  will  prove  frail  bulwarks  to  the  Austrian  armies 
in  Lombardy  if  the  masses  of  her  population,  rallied  by  Gari 
baldi,  sustained  as  they  will  be  by  the  advancing  armies  of  Sar 
dinia  and  France,  shall  rise  against  them. — And  if  Tuscany, 
Parma,  Modena,  and  Lombardy  revolt — swept  away  from 
Austrian  control  by  popular  feeling — how  long  will  the  reign 
ing  dynasty  in  Naples  be  able  to  resist  the  torrent  ?  The 
Papal  power  alone,  from  its  mixed  secular  and  ecclesiastical 
character,  the  latter  of  which  must  be  respected,  perhaps  pro 
tected  by  the  Emperor  of  the  French,  stands  upon  a  somewhat 
different  footing.  With  respect  to  all  the  other  Italian  States, 
the  embarrassing  question  already  is,  not  how  the  Allies  shall 
gain  them,  but  what  they  shall  do  with  them  ;  not  how  they 


296  THE  MOUNT  YEKNON  PAPERS. 

shall  be  rescued  from  the  dominion  or  the  influence  of  Austria, 
but  under  whose  dominion  and  influence  they  shall  fall. 

Shall  there  be  a  great  Italian  Republic,  coextensive  with 
the  Peninsula  ?  Such  is  the  programme  of  Mazzini  and  of 
those  whom  he  represents.  These  extremists  are  not  a  small 
or  feeble  handful ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  by  him  and  them,  in 
the  present  generation,  that  much  of  the  Italian  enthusiasm 
has  been  kindled.  As  usually  happens  in  such  cases,  they 
have  labored,  and  more  politic  and  less  unselfish  reformers 
have  entered  into  their  labors.  An  Italian  Republic  is  cer 
tainly  not  the  programme  of  the  King  of  Sardinia,  nor  of 
Count  Cavour,  although  an  Italian  Kingdom,  coextensive  with 
the  Peninsula,  may  be.  But  this  again  surely  is  not  the  pro 
gramme  of  Sardinia's  all-powerful  Ally.  He  is  not  leading 
armies  into  Italy,  sevenfold  as  large  as  those  with  which  his 
uncle  conquered  it,  in  order  that  the  royalties  and  the  vice- 
royalties,  which  the  great  chieftain  won  for  himself  and  his 
family,  may  be  tossed  in  a  heap  into  the  lap  of  Victor  Em 
manuel.  What  the  programme  of  the  great  "  neutral "  powers 
of  Europe  may  be,  in  reference  to  Italy,  in  case  it  should  all 
be  won  from  the  Austrian  dominion  and  influence,  is  a  ques 
tion  wrapped  in  still  greater  mystery.  The  popular  voice  in 
England  undoubtedly  is  "  Italy  for  the  Italians,"  and  the  gov 
ernment  of  England,  into  whatever  hands  it  may  fall,  must 
respect  this  unanimous  voice.  The  policy  of  England  will 
have  a  great  influence  over  that  of  Prussia ;  and  if  England 
and  Prussia  do  not  interfere,  certainly  Russia  will  not.  But 
in  all  these  considerations  we  see  how  fearfully  the  two  ele 
ments  of  State  policy  and  popular  will  are  combined  in  the 
solution  of  the  great  problem. 

"  Italy  for  the  Italians."  What  is  Italy  and  who  are  the 
Italians,  that  there  should  be  any  doubt  or  difficulty  on  the 
subject ;  why  are  they  not, — why  have  they  not  always  been, 
— a  great  integral  self-sustained  member  of  the  national  family 
of  Europe  ?  No  part  of  the  European  Continent  seems  to  be 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  297 

so  favorably  situated, — at  least  none  more  favorably  situated, 
if  we  except  England, — for  an  independent  power.  Surrounded 
by  the  ocean,  for  more  than  half  the  circuit  of  its  coasts,  sepa 
rated  by  the  Alps  on  the  North  and  on  the  West,  from  its 
powerful  neighbors,  Nature  would  seem  to  have  given  to  Italy 
in  an  eminent  degree,  the  first  requisite  of  an  Independent  Na 
tionality,  a  compact  and  defensible  geographical  position,  safe 
from  foreign  violence,  and  possessing  within  itself  every  facility 
for  intercommunication  between  its  different  parts.  In  all  other 
material  circumstances  which  nourish  the  pride  of  Nationality, 
a  delightful  though  various  climate; — a  soil  productive  of  every 
thing  for  the  food  of  man  from  wheat  and  rice  and  Indian  corn 
to  the  olive,  the  grape,  the  fig,  and  the  sweet  orange  ; — ports 
once  crowded  with  the  commerce  of  the  world,  Genoa,  Leghorn, 
Naples,  Palermo,  Venice  ; — mines  of  iron  and  copper, — quar 
ries  of  marble, — broad,  navigable  lakes, — one  noble  river  and 
many  of  the  second  class, — magnificent  forests, — fertile  plains 
— what  is  there  to  be  further  desired,  as  far  as  natural  advan 
tages  go,  toward  a  liberal  patriotism  1 

The  next  basis  of  national  unity  is  a  common  origin 
and  kindred  blood ;  and  here  the  Italians  present  as  strong 
a  claim  to  an  independent  national  existence  as  any  of 
their  neighbors.  It  is  true  one  may,  following  back  their 
annals,  come  to  the  times  when  invading  barbarians  broke  in 
upon  the  unity  of  the  Latin  race  ;  nay,  one  may  go  back  to 
the  Italia  avanti  i  Romani,  the  "  Italy  before  the  Romans," 
when  a  dozen  different  races,  indigenous  and  foreign,  occupied 
the  Ausonian  territory.  But  as  these  primitive  races,  which 
flourished  before  the  period  of  authentic  history, — (of  which 
no  memorial  now  exists,  but  ruined  specimens  of  gigantic 
masonry,  a  few  unintelligible  inscriptions,  and  tombs  filled 
with  pictured  vases,  weapons,  and  golden  ornaments,  mute 
witnesses  of  a  buried  world  of  refinement  and  power), — were 
fused  into  the  Italians  of  the  Roman  age ;  so  the  intruders  of 
later  periods,  Gauls  and  Ostrogoths  and  Lombards,  have, 
13* 


298  THE  MOUNT  VEBNON  PAPERS. 

from  the  origin  of  the  political  organization  of  Modern 
Europe,  been  fused  into  the  Italian  People.  This  Italian 
People  as  we  know  it,  has  under  various  local  names,  in 
different  portions  of  the  Peninsula,  and  with  various  political 
fortunes,  occupied  the  country  for  twelve  centuries ;  as  their 
predecessors  did  for  twelve  centuries  before  them.  On  the 
score  of  common  origin,  the  inhabitants  of  Italy  at  the  present 
day,  have  a  much  stronger  claim  to  be  considered  a  nation 
than  the  subjects  of  the  Austrian  Empire,  in  which  at  least 
four  great  races  are  comprehended, — the  Italian,  the  German 
the  Sclavonian  and  the  Magyar,  to  say  nothing  of  numerous 
sub-races,  of  radically  different  stock  and  speaking  languages 
utterly  unintelligible  to  each  other. 

This  brings  us  to  the  next  great  bond  of  nationality,  a 
common  language.  From  that  intellectual  chaos, — that  second 
Babel, — into  which  the  civilized  world  fell,  after  the  downfall 
of  the  Roman  Empire,  the  extinction  of  its  language  as  a 
spoken  tongue,  and  the  establishment  of  the  barbarous  races 
in  its  conquered  provinces  and  in  Italy  itself,  she  was  the  first 
of  all  the  newly  organized  peoples  to  emerge  with  a  new 
national  language  and  literature.  The  English  language,  as 
written  in  the  time  of  Dante,  is  almost  as  unintelligible  at  the 
present  day  to  all  but  the  English  antiquary  as  a  foreign  tongue. 
This  Italian  language  thus  early  formed, — softened  and  mel 
lowed  in  the  lapse  of  five  hundred  years,  but  not  become  obso 
lete,  spoken  by  the  masses  with  great  dialectical  differences  in 
the  different  parts  of  the  Peninsula,  but  perhaps  not  greater  than 
those  of  the  English  language  as  spoken  in  Somersetshire  and 
the  lowlands  of  Scotland,  is  still  the  language  of  Italy. — Dante 
and  Petrarch  and  Bocnaccio  and  Ariosto  and  Tasso,  and  all  the 
noble  line  of  their  successors  are  read  with  equal  delight  by 
all  who  read  any  thing,  from  Milan  to  Syracuse  and  from 
Genoa  to  Venice. 

Last  there  is  the  great  bond  of  a  common  form  of  faith, 
and  that  from  peculiar  local  causes,  operating  with  a  force  not 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  299 

known  in  any  country.  The  Roman  Catholic  religion  is 
established  in  every  part  of  Italy  as  the  religion  of  the  State 
and  with  the  exception  of  the  protestants  of  the  mountain  of 
Savoy,  now  tolerated  throughout  Sardinia,  and  of  the  protes- 
tant  chapels  attached  to  foreign  legations  in  the  Italian  resi 
dences,  no  other  form  of  Christian  worship  is  known. — The 
acknowledged  head  of  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  throughout 
the  world  is  established  in  Central  Italy,  and  the  devout 
Italian  Catholic  regards  his  country  as  charged,  in  a  peculiar 
sense,  with  the  custody  of  his  church.  There  is  nothing  like 
this  in  most  of  the  States  of  Europe.  England  has  six  or 
seven  millions  of  Catholic  subjects  in  Ireland,  besides  the 
division  of  her  Protestant  subjects  between  the  establishment 
and  the  various  dissenting  communions.  A  similar  state  of 
things  exists  in  Prussia ;  and  Catholic  France  and  Austria 
have  a  considerable  Protestant  population.  Under  constitu 
tional  governments  like  that  of  England,  this  diversity  of  com 
munion,  taken  in  connection  with  an  established  church,  is  the 
source  of  manifold  embarrassment.  It  is  the  great  root  of 
bitterness  in  Ireland,  and  has  caused  vast  trouble  in  Prussia. 
When  the  contending  churches,  instead  of  being  branches  of 
the  common  Faith  of  Christendom,  stand  opposed  to  each 
other  like  Christianity  and  Mahometanism,  in  the  Turkish  Em 
pire,  they  make  a  genuine  and  prosperous  nationality  impos 
sible.  They  admit  no  relation,  at  least  as  far  as  modern  his 
torical  experience  goes,  but  that  of  dominant  and  subject  races. 
On  all  these  grounds,  then,  of  geographical  position,  race, 
language,  and  religion,  the  Italians  might  fairly  claim  to  stand 
as  an  independent  State,  in  the  great  family  of  Nations. 
There  is  really  no  other  people  in  Europe  which  unites,  in 
the  same  degree,  the  four  great  elements  of  a  prosperous 
nationality  ;  not  either  of  the  great  contending  powers  whose 
armies  now  cover  her  soil ;  nor  England,  Prussia,  or  Russia, 
who,  with  hands  on  their  swords,  are  anxiously  watching  the 
progress  of  the  struggle.  What,  then,  is  wanting  to  the 


300  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

Nationality  of  the  Italians ;  and  how  does  it  happen  that  the 
People,  whose  forefathers  gave  law  to  the  world,  have  for  cen 
turies  taken  the  law  jroin  France,  from  Spain,  and  from  Ger 
many  ? 

I  shall  attempt  an  answer  to  this  important  question  in 
another  paper ;  in  the  mean  time,  I  will  only  observe,  in  a  few 
words,  that  the  cause  of  this  unhappy  state  of  things  is  not  to 
be  sought  as  is  perhaps  generally  supposed  in  the  degeneracy 
of  the  People.  Trusting  to  the  hasty  generalizations  of  tour 
ists,  who  pass  a  few  weeks  in  the  large  towns  and  see  the  out 
side  of  Italian  life  and  manners — the  general  poverty  of  the 
peasantry — the  indolence  of  the  Lazzaroni — the  swarms  of 
beggars  and  of  monks,  in  some  portions  of  the  country — who 
see  something  and  hear  more  of  the  dissoluteness  of  manners 
in  high  life — and  the  want  of  occupation  which  must  exist 
where  there  is  but  little  commerce,  few  manufactures,  and 
no  political  career,  and  almost  all  the  springs  of  industry  feel 
the  pressure  of  arbitrary  government,  we  hastily  agree  with 
them,  that  the  people  themselves  must  be  degenerate.  This, 
however,  is  far  from  being  the  case.  The  physical  development 
of  the  population  in  Italy,  male  and  female,  is,  in  the  aggregate, 
as  far  as  my  observation  has  extended,  quite  equal  to  that  of 
the  population  of  any  other  part  of  Europe.  Nowhere  are 
finer  forms  or  faces  to  be  seen  in  places  of  public  or  private 
resort.  The  Italians  are  a  temperate  people,  and  the  climate 
allows  them  to  live  much  in  the  open  air ;  and  this  in  the 
large  towns  leads  to  social  and  companionable  habits,  and  is 
everywhere  favorable  to  health.  In  intellect  they  are  surely 
not  a  degenerate  race.  Their  universities  still  boast  accom 
plished  men  of  science  and  distinguished  scholars  in  all  the 
faculties  ;  and  though  the  provision  for  popular  education  is 
in  none  of  the  Italian  States  to  be  compared  with  that  which 
is  made  in  Prussia,  England,  and  this  country,  it  is  respect 
able  in  Tuscany,  Sardinia,  and  even  Lombardy  ;  and  about 
equal  in  the  other  portions  of  the  Peninsula  to  what  it  is  in 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  301 

most  parts  of  Europe.  I  attended  the  meetings  of  the  As 
sociation  for  the  Promotion  of  Science  in  Italy,  which  was  held 
at  Florence  in  1841.  About  a  thousand  persons  were  present 
and  it  appeared  to  me  that  the  discussions  and  the  memoirs 
compared  fairly  with  those  of  similar  bodies,  at  which  I  have 
been  present  in  England  and  this  country.  At  the  close  of  its 
meetings  the  entire  Association  was  invited  to  dine  by  the 
Grand  Duke,  and  conveyed  in  carriages  at  his  expense  to  the 
halls  where  the  entertainment  was  served.  Each  member 
also  received  a  present  of  a  bronze  medal  of  Galileo,  with  a 
copy  in  quarto  of  a  new  volume  of  his  experiments. 

Every  branch  of  Letters,  except  those  which  can  exist  only 
under  free  constitutions,  flourishes  and  has  always  flourished 
in  Italy.  Some  of  the  most  eminent  writers  scientific  and 
literary  of  the  present  day,  astronomers,  physiologists,  antiqua 
ries,  publicists,  historians,  poets,  and  authors  of  popular  fic 
tion,  are  Italians.  Their  museums  and  libraries  are  unsur 
passed  in  Europe.  Italy  is  still  the  land  of  Art.  In  the 
highest  walks  of  painting  and  sculpture  she  is  excelled  by  for 
eigners,  but  here  is  an  atmosphere  of  artistic  culture, 
which  still  draws  the  foreign  artist  to  her  soil.  Most  of  the 
distinguished  German,  English,  French,  and  American  Artists 
have  studied  their  art  in  Italy.  In  music  she  still  reigns  su 
preme,  or  divides  the  empire  with  Germany  alone.  Surely  it 
is  the  extreme  of  arrogance  or  igorance  to  speak  of  such  a 
people  as  degenerate. 


NUMBER    THIRTY-THREE. 

ITALIAN  NATIONALITY. 

It  has  failed  to  exist  for  want  of  a  comprehensive  patriotic  sentiment — Difficulties  in 
the  way  of  the  formation  of  such  a  sentiment  arising  from  the  multiplication  of 
local  governments — Benefits  and  evils  of  this  multiplication — Probable  consequen 
ces  of  the  present  struggle— Will  not  result  in  a  republican  confederacy— Nor 
probably  in  the  immediate  establishment  of  an  Italian  monarchy — But  may  pre 
pare  the  way  for  such  an  event  in  future — Lessons  to  be  drawn  from  Italian 
history — All  other  circumstances  favorable  to  an  Independent  nationality  una 
vailing  without  a  comprehensive  patriotism. 

I  ATTEMPTED  in  the  last  paper  to  show  that  Italy  possesses 
the  great  elements  of  an  Independent  Nationality, — a  compact 
geographical  position,  a  population  fused  for  twelve  centuries 
into  a  homogeneous  mass,  a  common  language,  and  a  uniform 
faith  ;  and  I  urged  that  whatever  else  might  be  the  cause  why 
she  never  has  attained  an  Independent  Nationality,  it  was  not 
the  degeneracy  of  the  People.  What,  then,  is  wanting  ?  If  I 
were  to  answer  this  question,  in  the  words  of  Washington's 
Farewell  Address,  and  say  that  she  wanted  "  Unity  of  Gov 
ernment,"  I  should  be  thought  merely  to  say  the  same  thing 
in  other  words,  affirming  that  the  Italians  are  not  one  peo 
ple,  because  they  are  not  one  people.  But  the  answer 
would  be  more  significant  than  it  seems.  When  General 
Washington  said  to  his  fellow  citizens,  "  The  Unity  of  Gov 
ernment  which  constitutes  you  one  People,  is  justly  dear  to 
you"  he  gave  utterance,  not  to  a  policitcal  truism,  but  to  one 
of  the  most  important  lessons  that  ever  fell  from  the  lips  of 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  303 

Patriot  or  Sage.  Italy,  since  the  Roman  Empire  broke  up, 
has  wanted  "  Unity  of  Government,"  which  alone  could  enable 
her  to  stand  in  the  family  of  Nations  as  "  one  People  ;  "  one 
in  power,  one  in  counsel,  one  in  patriotism ;  and  she  has 
wanted  this  Unity  of  Government,  because,  to  use  the  simple 
phrase  whose  venerable  homeliness  carries  with  it  a  sort  of 
Scriptural  solemnity, — because  such  a  unity  was  not  "  dear  to 
her."  Her  populations,  in  no  period  of  their  modern  history, 
had  deduced  from  the  various  elements  of  nationality,  to  which 
I  have  alluded,  an  Italian  Patriotism  and  a  National  Love. 

I  admit  the  enormous  difficulties  that  lay  in  the  way  of 
the  formation  of  such  a  sentiment.  The  disintegration  of  the 
Roman  power  in  Italy,  which  held  the  population  together  by 
a  Unity  of  Government,  which  if  not  "  dear  "  wras  strong, 
took  place  gradually.  Had  it  passed  away  in  one  struggle, 
like  the  British  power  in  the  Anglo-American  colonies,  or  the 
Spanish  power  in  the  Seven  United  Provinces,  some  other 
Unity  of  Government  might,  by  the  wisdom  of  man  and  the 
exigencies  of  events,  have  been  substituted  in  its  place.  But 
it  was  broken  up  piece  by  piece.  The  removal  of  the  seat  of 
Government  to  Constantinople  struck  the  whole  peninsula 
writh  a  heart-sickness,  and  changed  it,  from  the  seat  of  Empire 
into  an  exposed  province.  Barbarians  and  semi-barbarians  of 
every  race  and  from  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe,  fell  upon 
her  ;  the  Ostrogoths,  the  Lombards,  the  Franks,  the  Saracens, 
the  Normans,  each  fastening  upon  the  tempting  or  the  assail 
able  side,  and  then  the  great  secular  struggle  of  the  Emperors 
and  the  Popes  rending  her  vitals.  In  the  mean  time,  and  in 
the  darkness  of  the  Middle  Ages,  various  local  governments, 
some  extensive  like  Venice,  some  confined  to  a  few  cities  or 
a  single  city  like  Florence,  and  Pisa,  and  Genoa,  sprang  up, 
and  became  in  some  cases  powerful  principalities ;  Venice  and 
Genoa  by  their  commerce  and  maritime  resources  assuming 
the  port  and  wielding  the  power  of  great  sovereignties ;  carry 
ing  on  war,  making  foreign  conquests,  and  founding  colonies. 


304:  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

Three  flagstaff's  stood  and  still  stand,  or  did  a  few  years  ago, 
in  the  place  of  St.  Mark  at  Venice,  which  once  bore  the  ban 
ners  of  her  three  foreign  tributary  kingdoms.  The  peninsula 
was  covered  with  these  independent  governments,  some  pow 
erful,  many  weak,  all  jealous  of  each  other,  and  the  most  of 
them  engaged  in  hereditary  feuds  and  eternal  wars. 

Two  consequences  resulted  from  this  state  of  things — one  a 
prodigious  quickening  of  the  faculties  of  men,  under  the  influ 
ence  of  popular  institutions  in  the  free  cities  and  little  inde 
pendent  republics.  A  species  of  municipal  liberty  was  en 
joyed,  under  which  the  civilization  of  the  modern  world  grew 
up  in  Italy  long  before  it  dawned  on  the  West  of  Europe. 
The  merchants  of  Florence  were  the  bankers  of  Europe  ;  the 
traders  of  Venice  pushed  their  commercial  relations  to  the 
farthest  East ;  the  mariners  of  Genoa  discovered  hidden  Con 
tinents,  before  the  intelligence  of  the  countries,  that  now  bear 
sway  over  fallen  Italy,  was  thoroughly  awakened.  Nor  were 
learning,  and  the  arts,  and  the  reviving  study  of  antiquity 
behind  her  material  development.  This  was  the  bright  side  of 
that  multiplication  of  governments,  which  kindled  a  generous 
emulation  and  kept  aloof  the  paralyzing  effects  of  a  despotic 
centrality. 

But  liberal  emulation  degenerated  into  bitter  feuds  and 
local  wars.  Duchy  was  arrayed  against  duchy  ;  city  against 
city  ;  Milan  and  Piedmont ;  Florence  and  Pisa ;  Venice  and 
the  Ecclesiastical  State ;  in  short,  at  one  time  or  another  al 
most  every  little  principality  was  at  war  with  some  other ; 
or,  rather,  at  no  time  was  there  general  peace.  This  state  of 
things  cut  off  all  free  communication  between  the  different 
parts  of  the  country.  There  were  probably  generations  of 
men  in  Florence,  of  whom  not  an  individual  ever  saw  Pistola, 
except  in  arms  ;  generations  of  Neapolitans,  of  whom  not  an 
individual  could  go  in  safety  to  Eome  or  Venice.  In  addition 
to  the  controversies,  that  were  strictly  local  and  personal  in 
their  origin  and  causes,  the  great  war  of  Guelf  and  Ghibelline, 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.          305 

the  Emperor  and  the  Pope,  filled  all  minds  with  bitterness 
and  prevented  the  very  thought  of  "  Unity  of  Government " 
from  being  practically  conceived  for  ages.  There  were  seve 
ral  strong  principalities,  of  limited  extent  indeed,  but  possess 
ing  a  vigorous  organization,  such  as  the  Republic  of  Venice, 
the  Kingdom  of  Naples,  the  Duchy  of  Milan,  the  Republic  of 
Florence,  and  above  all  the  Ecclesiastical  State ;  but  they 
were  without  sympathy  with  each  other,  and  upon  the  whole 
afforded  no  basis  for  a  Unity  of  Government.  There  was  no 
political  arrangement,  which  could  have  been  conceived  and 
proposed,  that  would  have  been  "  dear  "  to  the  populations  of 
these  various  States,  and  which  would  have  been  embraced  by 
them  with  patriotic  affection. 

And  so  they  remained  rivals  and  enemies  of  each  other, 
and  by  necessary  consequence  were  obliged  to  throw  them 
selves  into  the  bloody  game  of  foreign  politics ;  invaded  by 
overwhelming  armies  with  every  vibration  of  the  balance  of 
power  between  Germany,  France,  and  Spain ;  to  say  nothing 
of  remoter  complications.  The  successive  wars,  expeditions, 
conquests,  treaties,  and  transfers  are  known  to  the  reader  of 
modern  history  from  the  time  of  Charles  VIII.  to  the  Con 
gress  of  Vienna  ;  a  dark  and  tedious  tale. 

Another  chapter  is  now  commenced  in  this  eventful  his 
tory.  Armies  such  as  never  entered  Italy  before  are  now  in 
Lombardy  ;  transported  by  railroads,  with  a  rapidity  not 
dreamed  of  in  former  wars  ;  provided  with  means  of  destruc 
tion,  which  in  range  and  efficiency  transcend  those  of  the  old 
ordnance,  almost  as  much  as  fire  arms  exceed  bows  and  ar 
rows  ;  put  in  motion  by  orders  which  fly  with  electric  speed  ; 
and  certainly  sustained  by  a  popular  sentiment  on  the  part  of 
the  Italians  themselves,  such  as  has  never  accompanied  invad 
ing  armies  before.  Will  this  mighty  contest,  urged  with 
these  overwhelming  forces,  result  in  any  "  Unity  of  Govern 
ment  "  for  Italy  ? 

That  it  is  not  likely  to  result  in  a  republican  government, 


306  THE   MOUNT   VEKNXMST   PAPERS. 

either  simple  or  confederate,  or  in  the  establishment  of  any 
form  of  polity  like  the  United  States,  may  be  considered  as 
certain.  A  preliminary  step  would  be  necessary  to  that  re 
sult  which  cannot  possibly  be  taken,  viz.,  the  conversion  of 
the  existing  monarchies  into  republics ;  the  existing  monar 
chies  I  say,  for  whatever  the  names  of  the  Italian  States  (ex 
cept  San  Marino,)  they  are  all  monarchies,  and,  with  the 
exception  of  Sardinia,  all  absolute  monarchies.  That  there  is 
a  probability  that  any  of  these  absolute  governments  great  or 
small,  will  become  a  republic,  no  person  will  say  who  is  at  all 
acquainted  with  the  country.  There  can  consequently  be  no 
"  United  States  "  in  one  sense  of  the  word,  because  there  will 
be  no  States,  if  by  that  is  meant  republican  States,  to  unite. 

Will  the  contest  now  waged  result  in  establishing  a 
"  Unity  of  Government "  of  another  kind ;  a  monarchical 
Government,  embracing  all  Italy  ?  As  an  immediate  con 
sequence  of  the  movements  now  in  progress,  this  event  is  as 
much  out  of  the  question  as  the  other.  The  ulterior  objects 
of  the  war  are  hidden  in  the  deep  recesses  of  Louis  Napoleon's 
mind.  lie  has  revealed  a  portion  of  his  thoughts,  a  small 
portion ;  which  is  to  drive  the  Austrians  from  Italy,  and  he 
has  disclaimed,  all  designs  of  personal  aggrandizement.  If, 
therefore,  he  succeeds,  as  in  all  human  probability  he  will ;  if 
no  chance  shot  from  a  Tyrolese  rifle,  no  malarious  fever  in 
the  marshes  of  the  Po  arrest  his  career, — (for  these  are 
human  possibilities) — it  is  as  certain  as  any  thing  depending 
on  the  vicissitudes  of  war,  that  the  Austrian  rule  over  Lom- 
bardy  and  Venetia  will  terminate  with  this  or  the  next  cam 
paign.  To  all  appearance  Lombardy  at  least,  if  not  Venice, 
will  be  annexed  to  Sardinia,  a  very  considerable  augmentation 
of  power  for  the  aspiring,  energetic,  and  liberal  Sovereign  of 
that  kingdom.  Parma  and  Modena,  with  Tuscany  already 
revolutionized,  will  follow  the  fate  of  the  Lombardo-Venetian 
territory,  as  far  as  their  late  rulers  are  concerned.  Essen 
tially  Austrian  in  their  personal  and  political  relations,  they 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS.  307 

can  never  come  back  unless  some  new  turn  of  the  wheel  of 
fortune  shall  cause  such  a  general  reaction,  as,  having  once 
happened  within  the  present  generation,  may  by  possibility 
happen  again.  With  this  qualification,  we  may  set  down  the 
three  principalities  just  named  as  lost  to  Austrian  control,  and 
to  their  hereditary  princes.  Will  they  too  be  annexed  to 
Sardinia  ?  This  may  well  be  doubted.  A  Sardinian  Com 
missioner  appeared  at  Florence  and  took  possession  of  the 
abdicated  government  of  Tuscany  ;  but  the  cousin  of  the 
Emperor  has  followed  upon  his  heels  with  a  French  army, 
and  is  installed  in  the  Crocetta. — This  may  be  nothing  but  a 
measure  of  precaution  to  hold  Tuscany  for  the  Allies,  or  it 
may  be  a  measure  of  preparation  for  the  establishment  of  the 
cousin  of  Louis  Napoleon,  with  his  Sardinian  bride,  in  a  new 
kingdom  of  Etruria. 

With  these  stirring  events  in  Northern  and  Central  Italy, 
tending  however  not  to  any  "  Unity  of  Government,"  but  to 
the  aggrandizement  of  Sardinia  and  the  establishment  of  a 
prince  of  the  Napoleonic  dynasty  in  the  heart  of  the  Penin 
sula,  will  Naples  and  the  Ecclesiastical  State  remain  unshaken1? 
In  Naples  the  elements  of  disaffection  are  widely  diffused. 
An  odious  Sovereign  has  gone  to  his  account ;  that  his  moun 
tain-load  of  unpopularity  is  buried  in  his  grave  is  not  so  clear. 
If  the  new  king  as  is  reported,  should  wisely  turn  from  his 
brother's  evil  ways, — throw  open  the  prisons,  lighten  the  bur 
den  of  taxation,  and  reform  the  traditionary  abuses  of  the 
State,  he  may  maintain  himself  on  his  precarious  throne. — 
But  if  it  should  enter  into  the  Imperial  plan  to  realize  the 
Idees  Napoleoniennes,  in  Southern  Italy  ;  and  if  the  new  King 
shall  pursue  the  line  of  his  government  which  earned  for  his 
father  the  hatred  and  contempt  of  his  people  and  of  Europe, 
the  chosen  instrument  of  redress  is  at  hand  in  the  person  of 
Prince  Murat. 

These  are  the  territorial  changes  most  likely  to  be  made, 
and  to  which,  arguing  from  the  present  premonitions,  the 


308  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

minds  of  men  involuntarily  turn.  They  may  possibly  be 
made  by  popular  choice.  Some  great  changes  must  be  made, 
to  meet  the  expulsion  of  the  Austrians  from  Italy,  and  these 
now  indicated  seem  to  be  more  probable  than  that  Sardinia 
will  be  allowed  to  monopolize  the  harvest  of  the  war,  which 
is  the  alternative  possibility.  But  in  these  changes,  it  is 
scarcely  necessary  to  say,  there  is  no  near  approach  to  a 
"  Unity  of  Government,"  none  to  an  Independent  Italian  Na 
tionality,  comprehending  the  entire  Peninsula. 

But  though  these  events  constitute  no  near  approach  to 
such  a  Unity,  they  seem  to  be  a  first  step  in  the  right  direc 
tion.  It  is  much  to  throw  off  the  foreign  yoke  from  the  fairest 
portions  of  Northern  and  Central  Italy.  Sardinia  by  exten 
sion  in  that  quarter  will  have  been  built  up  into  a  very  con 
siderable  Power ;  and  in  the  lapse  of  time,  by  the  same 
process  by  which  the  present  Monarchy  of  Spain  was  consol 
idated  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and  the  Kingdom  of  France 
grew  by  the  successive  annexation  of  Burgundy,  Navarre,  and 
the  other  feudal  dependencies,  and  Prussia  has  been  elevated  in 
a  century  and  a  half  from  a  feeble  electorate  into  one  of  the 
leading  powers  of  Europe,  the  Sardinian  Monarchy  may  gradu 
ally  draw  to  itself  the  other  Italian  States  and  form  at  last 
one  powerful  Italian  Government.  This  will  hardly  be  the 
work  of  one  generation. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  state  of  Italy  and  the  march  of 
events  are  replete  with  instruction  for  us.  The  history  of 
this  beautiful  country  for  ages  and  its  present  condition  teach 
us,  that  the  strongest  inducements  to  "  Unity  of  Government," 
— geographical  position,  ties  of  common  origin,  language,  and 
religion,  capacity  to  do  each  other  unbounded  good  or  evil, — 
strength  if  they  hold  together, — weakness  and  subjection  to 
foreign  powers  if  the  body  politic  is  broken  into  fragments  ; 
— are  all  of  no  avail,  without  some  deeper  principle  of  Union. 
It  would  be  idle  at  this  time  ; — for  the  last  thousand  years  it 
would  have  been  idle  ; — to  say  to  the  Italians,  broken  up  into 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  309 

ten  or  twelve  governments,  "  it  is  folly  and  madness  for  you 
to  continue  thus  disunited."  Men  as  individuals  and  as  com 
munities  will  often  do  foolish  and  mad  things,  and  the  example 
of  Italy  shows  that  they  will  persist  in  doing  them  through 
long  ages  of  subjection  and  suffering. 

Again,  if  before  the  disintegration  of  the  Roman  power  in 
Italy  commenced,  men  had  said  to  themselves  "  this  fine 
country  will  never  be  so  unwise  as  to  allow  itself  to  be 
broken  up  ; — this  intelligent  people  will  surely  hold  together 
forever ;  Nature  has  thrown  the  circling  seas  around  their 
coasts,  has  piled  up  this  great  Alpine  wall  on  the  frontier,  has 
poured  out  a  noble  river  through  her  Northern  valley  to  bind 
together  the  States  which  line  its  banks ;  and,  in  the  diver 
sity  of  natural  products,  has  made  each  section  essential  to 
the  prosperity  of  every  other,  while  internal  dissension  will 
be  the  ruin  of  all ; — they  never  can,  they  never  will  break 
up," — if  he  had  said  this,  he  would  have  uttered  words  of 
wisdom,  but  alas,  as  the  event  has  proved,  not  words  of 
prophecy. 

The  example  then  of  Italy  teaches  us,  in  characters  written 
in  tears  and  in  blood,  that  it  is  not  natural  advantages,  nor 
capacities  for  mutual  good  and  harm  ; — not  the  material  ben 
efits  of  Union,  not  the  certain  woes  of  separation, — which 
create  and  preserve  a  Unity  of  Government,  though  they  add 
strength  to  the  tie  when  it  exists  ;  but  it  is  a  generous  senti 
ment  pervading  the  population,  a  comprehensive  patriotism, 
a  reciprocal  respect  for  local  interests  and  feelings,  fusing 
natural  elements,  however  dissimilar  and  remote,  into  a  well- 
compacted  whole.  It  is  by  these  alone  that  a  people  can  be 
formed,  and  an  independent  Nationality  asserted. 


ISTUMBEE    THIETY-FOUR. 

THE  LIGHT-HOUSE. 

The  greatest  dangers  of  the  sea  are  in  nearing  the  land — To  obviate  some  of  these 
light-houses  have  been  erected — The  Colossus  of  Ehodes — The  Pharos  of  Alexan 
dria — Great  improvements  in  modern  times— Fresnel — Feelings  in  contemplating 
a  light-house — The  Fitzmaurice  light — Number  of  light-houses  in  England, 
France,  and  the  United  States — Dangers  sometimes  of  their  multiplication — Anec 
dote  of  a  narrow  escape — Minofs  Ledge  described — Destruction  of  the  iron 
screw-pile  light-house  in  April,  1851 — The  violence  of  the  gale  described — A  new 
light-house  of  solid  masonry  in  progress  of  erection  under  Capt.  Alexander — 
Progress  of  the  work— An  eclipsing  light  a  beautiful  object— Via  Crucis,  via 
Lucis. 

MOST  persons  who  navigate  the  ocean  have  found  out  that 
the  greatest  dangers  of  the  sea  are  near  the  land.  In  mid- 
ocean,  in  a  good  staunch  ship,  the  skilful  sailor  feels  compar 
atively  safe.  There  are  of  course  perils  even  with  full  sea- 
room.  There  are  dangers  even  there,  from  lightning,  and 
hurricanes  which  no  strength  of  timbers  can  resist,  icebergs, 
collision  with  other  vessels,  and  fire ;  but  all  these  may  be 
equally  encountered  on  nearing  land,  with  the  additional 
perils  of  a  lee  shore.  These  last  are  always  great,  however 
well  aware  the  navigator  may  be  of  his  precise  situation.  He 
may  be  driven  by  a  force  of  winds  and  currents,  which  no 
human  skill  can  withstand,  upon  frightful  rocks  or  treach 
erous  sands,  well  knowing  beforehand  that  he  is  speeding  to 
certain  destruction.  But  it  happens  not  seldom  on  nearing 
land  after  a  long  voyage,  especially  in  the  night,  and  still 
more  in  weather  so  thick  as  to  prevent  taking  the  sun,  that 
the  wretched  vessel,  ignorant  of  her  position,  goes  without 
warning  to  her  doom. 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  311 

To  obviate  this  danger,  as  far  as  it  can  be  done  by  human 
art,  it  has  been  the  practice  of  the  civilized  nations  to  mark 
the  approach  to  their  sea-ports,  and  the  position  of  dangerous 
points  on  the  shore,  and  of  sunken  ledges  and  shoals,  with 
light-houses.  This  practice  began  in  antiquity.  Some  per 
sons  have  supposed  that  the  Colossus  of  Rhodes  was  a  light 
house  ;  but  the  Pharos  of  Alexandria,  which,  in  the  French 
language,  has  given  its  name  to  structures  of  this  kind,  and 
which  was  built  by  one  of  the  Ptolemies  in  the  fourth  century 
before  our  Saviour,  is  the  oldest  of  which  we  have  any  au 
thentic  accounts. 

It  would  be  out  of  place,  in  a  paper  of  this  kind,  to  at 
tempt  a  minute  description  of  the  great  improvements  which 
have  been  made  in  light-houses  in  modern  times.  As  far  as 
their  illumination  goes,  the  most  important  of  these  improve 
ments  may  be  traced  to  the  elder  Fresnel  in  France,  whose 
system  has  been  adopted  in  our  own,  and  most,  if  not  all, 
other  countries.  It  has  earned  for  him  the  distinction  of 
being  "  classed  with  the  greatest  of  those  inventive  minds, 
which  extend  the  boundaries  of  human  knowledge,  and  he  will 
thus  at  the  same  time  receive  a  place  among  those  benefac 
tors  of  the  species,  who  have  consecrated  their  genius  to  the 
common  good  of  mankind,  and  wherever  maritime  intercourse 
prevails,  the  solid  advantages  which  his  labors  have  procured 
will  be  felt  and  acknowledged." 

I  confess  I  never  behold  one  of  these  noble  buildings  with 
out  emotion,  I  had  almost  said  without  reverence,  especially 
when  guided  by  it  in  safety  along  an  iron-bound  coast  or 
between  sunken  ledges,  to  the  desired  haven.  Piloted  by  its 
trusty  beams,  streaming  over  the  midnight  waters,  the  skilful 
navigator  shoots  boldly  along  within  a  hundred  rods  of  some 
grey  promontory,  on  which  the  storms  of  fifty  centuries  have 
roared  and  burst.  He  has  not  perhaps  for  a  week  had  an 
observation  of  the  sun,  but  that  friendly  light  in  making  land 
more  than  supplies  its  place.  Unlike  most  other  works  of 


312  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS. 

public  utility,  it  is  not  built  for  the  exclusive  benefit  of  the 
country  at  whose  expense  it  is  erected.  Its  light  is  kindled 
for  all  mankind,  like  the  sun  which  rises  on  the  evil  and  on 
the  good.  In  storm  and  in  calm,  in  summer  and  in  winter, 
for  friend  and  enemy,  citizen  and  alien,  a  land-mark  by  day, 
and  a  beacon  by  night,  it  stands  and  shines  a  beauty  and  a 
blessing. 

There  is  nothing  I  read  about  with  greater  pleasure  than 
light-houses,  the  difficulty  of  building  them  on  sunken  rocks, 
such  as  the  Eddystone,  Bellrock,  Skerryvore,  and  our  own 
Minot's  Ledge ;  the  triumphs  of  the  engineer  over  the  tides 
and  the  tempest ;  and  the  modes  of  lighting  them,  which  have 
been  so  much  improved  in  modern  times,  by  means  of  lenses, 
mirrors,  newly  invented  and  powerful  illuminating  substances, 
revolving  and  colored  lights,  and  other  arrangements  for  iden 
tifying  and  discriminating  light-houses,  and  preventing  their 
being  confounded  with  each  other.  It  has  been  said  that  a 
narrow  and  dangerous  passage,  like  the  Bosphorus,  might,  at 
moderate  expense,  and  by  the  application  of  the  Fitzmaurice 
light,  be  made  as  light  as  day,  all  the  way  up  from  the  Dar 
danelles  to  the  Black  Sea.  Light,  I  fear,  of  a  different  kind, 
must  stream  into  the  Divan  at  Constantinople,  before  any 
thing  like  this  can  be  expected. 

I  suppose  there  is  no  country  in  the  world  that  maintains 
so  many  light-houses  as  the  United  States.  In  the  seventh 
edition  of  the  Edinburgh  Encyclopaedia  it  is  stated,  that  the 
number  of  lights  in  England  is  71,  in  Scotland  51,  in  Ireland 
44 ;  in  all  one  hundred  and  sixty-six.  The  number  of  French 
lights  is  given  in  the  same  work  at  upwards  of  one  hundred. 
By  the  statement  in  the  report  on  the  Finances  for  1857-8, 
the  last  which  I  have  seen,  the  number  of  light-houses,  light- 
boats,  and  beacons,  on  the  Atlantic,  Gulf,  Lake,  and  Pacific 
coasts,  corrected  to  1st  of  January,  1858,  is  four  hundred  and 
ninety,  including  those  built  and  building.  The  average  an 
nual  cost  of  each  light-house  and  light-vessel  is  stated  in  the 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEKS.  313 

same  document  to  be  $1,286;  or  about  $643,000  per  annum; 
a  sum  larger  than  the  entire  appropriation  for  the  support  of 
Government,  in  the  first  year  of  President  Washington's 
administration.  Whoever  will  carefully  read  that  list  of 
light-houses,  with  the  marginal  notes,  will  get  an  idea,  not 
easily  to  be  derived  from  any  other  source,  of  the  vast  coast 
wise  reach  of  this  country,  and  the  extent  of  its  maritime 
resources.  1  think  he  will  also  get  some  new  views  of  the 
beneficent  operations  of  that  United  Government,  which  em 
braces  it  all  in  one  jurisdiction,  and  which  moves  along  the 
coasts  of  either  ocean,  of  the  Mexican  Gulf,  and  the  great  in 
land  seas,  studding  their  headlands,  and  marking  their  shoals 
and  reefs,  with  these  beneficent  structures. 

As  there  is  scarce  any  such  thing  as  unmixed  good,  even 
the  multiplication  of  light-houses  has  its  dangers.  They  may 
sometimes  be  confounded  with  each  other,  and  so  betray  a 
vessel  into  the  very  danger  they  were  intended  to  point  out. 
I  once  heard  a  pilot  say  there  were  too  many  light-houses  on 
Long  Island  Sound.  He  probably  would  have  found  it  dim. 
cult  to  name  any  one  which  he  would  wish  to  take  away ; 
certainly  not  if  he  had  occasion  to  make  the  port  or  incur  the 
risk,  on  account  of  which  it  was  built.  The  resources  of 
modern  art  have  been  very  successfully  applied  in  contriving 
arrangements  by  which  light-houses  may  readily  be  discrimi 
nated,  and,  if  the  expectations  which  have  been  formed  of  the 
Fitzmaurice  light  should  not  be  disappointed,  an  artificial  day 
may  yet  be  produced  along  the  whole  extent  of  the  coast  of 
Long  Island  Sound. 

I  was,  on  one  occasion,  the  near  witness  and  almost  the 
victim  of  the  dangers  attending  the  confounding  of  light-houses 
as  you  near  the  land.  On  my  first  visit  to  Europe,  in  the 
spring  of  1815,  in  a  sailing  vessel  of  three  hundred  and  fifty 
tons,  which  was  thought  a  sizeable  ship  in  those  days,  we  were 
in  greater  danger  from  the  time  we  approached  the  Irish  and 
Welsh  coast,  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  voyage.  The 
14 


314  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

weather  was  so  thick  that  we  could  not  see  the  ship's  length 
before  us,  and  the  wind  blew  us  strongly  on  a  lee  shore,  which 
we  did  not  at  first  know  to  be  such,  having  had  no  observa 
tion  for  a  day  or  two.  The  first  land  we  made  was  an  island, 
with  a  light-house  upon  it.  When  the  light-house  was  first 
descried  through  the  haze,  we  took  it  for  a  vessel,  and  steered 
directly  for  it.  It  was  apparently  not  above  two  miles  off. 
Presently  the  man  at  the  mast-head  cried  out,  with  a  frightful 
voice,  "  A  Light-house.  Breakers  !  "  Our  captain  was  led 
by  his  reckoning  to  think  it  was  Waterford  light,  and  sup 
posed  that  we  were  driving  on  the  Irish  coast.  The  ship  was 
immediately  forced  to  starboard,  to  weather  the  supposed 
point  on  the  coast  of  Ireland.  In  a  moment  the  Captain  cried 
with  a  yell  and  an  oath,  which  I  have  never  forgotten,  "  It's 
Small's," — a  light-house  on  the  Welsh  coast.  We  were  driv 
ing  head-on  toward  the  breakers.  The  ship,  which  in  another 
moment  would  have  struck,  was  put  about ;  we  passed  the 
light-house  on  the  right  in  safety,  but  at  a  very  short  distance, 
and  within  full  sight  and  hearing  of  the  awful  breakers  we 
had  so  narrowly  escaped  ! 

Minot's  Ledge  or  Minot's  Rocks,  form  one  of  the  most 
dangerous  points  on  our  north-eastern  coast.  They  lie  off 
Cohasset,  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  seventeen  miles  south 
east  from  Boston.  Within  thirty  years  and  principally  within 
fifteen  years  prior  to  1848,  ten  ships,  fourteen  brigs,  sixteen 
schooners,  and  three  sloops  struck  on  these  dangerous  rocks, 
and  of  these  forty-three  vessels,  twenty-seven  were  total 
losses.  The  outer  rock  is  forty-eight  feet  long  and  thirty-six 
feet  broad,  at  mean  low-water  level.  It  being  deemed  impos- 
ible  to  construct  at  a  moderate  cost  a  light-house  of  solid 
masonry  on  such  a  rock,  exposed  to  the  full  sweep  of  the  At 
lantic,  it  was  determined  to  erect  a  screw-pile  iron  light-house, 
on  a  plan  which  had  been  successfully  adopted  on  other  points 
of  our  coast,  and  in  Europe.  This  was  done  at  small  expense 
and  under  a  skilful  engineer  between  1847  and  1849.  Either, 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  315 

however,  from  some  suspicion  of  want  of  solidity  in  the  rock, 
into  which  the  iron  piles  were  bolted,  or  the  impossibility  of 
resisting  a  column  of  water,  driven  with  such  tremendous 
leverage  under  the  floor  of  the  lantern,  it  soon  began  to  be 
doubted  whether  the  structure  would  stand.  A  letter  written 
at  the  light-house  by  the  keeper,  after  the  gale  of  December 
1850,  gives  a  fearful  description  of  its  effect  upon  the  building. 

"At  intervals,"  says  he,  "an  appalling  stillness  prevails,  creating  an 
inconceivable  dread,  each  gazing  with  breathless  emotion  on  the  other ; 
but  the  next  moment  the  deep  roar  of  another  roller  is  heard,  seeming 
as  if  it  would  tear  up  the  very  rocks  beneath,  as  it  burst  upon  us.  The 
light-house  quivering  and  trembling  to  its  very  centre,  recovers  itself 
just  in  time  to  breast  the  fnry  of  another  and  another  wave,  as  they  roll 
in  upon  us  with  resistless  force." 

The  same  letter  says,  "  the  Northern  part  of  the  founda 
tion  is  split,  and  the  light-house  rocks  at  least  two  feet  each 
way." 

On  the  16th  April,  1851,  a  terrible  storm  swept  the 
coast  of  New  England.  In  the  afternoon  the  light-house  on 
Minot's  Ledge  was  last  seen  from  the  shore;  at  eleven 
o'clock  at  night  the  fog-bell  was  heard  between  the  fearful 
pauses  of  the  tempest ;  no  light  was  seen  in  it  that  night ; 
and  in  the  morning  its  broken  fragments,  scattered  on  the 
shore,  proclaimed  the  fate  of  the  ill-starred  structure,  and  of 
the  two  unfortunate  keepers,  Joseph  Wilson  and  Joseph 
Antonio,  who  were  lost  in  it.  The  iron  piles  had  remained 
firm  in  their  beds,  but  had  been  bent  and  snapped  about  six 
feet  from  the  rock ;  and  the  lantern,  after  having  fallen  to  an 
inclination  of  about  twenty  degrees,  thus  presenting  its  floor 
ing  to  the  rushing  waves,  seemed  to  have  been  driven  forward 
with  a  force  that  tore  the  piles  asunder. 

After  the  disastrous  result  of  the  experiment  of  the  screw- 
pile  light-house,  nothing  remained  but  to  build  a  tower  of 
solid  masonry,  at  whatever  cost.  The  work  was  projected 


316  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

by  General  Totten,  the  accomplished  head  of  the  Department 
of  Engineers,  and  its  execution  confided  to  Captain  B.  S. 
Alexander,  who  had  already  given  satisfactory  proofs  of  his 
ability  as  a  constructing  engineer.  The  tower  is  now  in 
progress  of  successful  erection,  a  cone  thirty  feet  in  diameter 
at  the  base,  to  be  seventeen  feet  and  a  half  at  top ;  ninety  feet 
high,  the  lower  forty  feet  to  be  solid.  The  greatest  difficulty 
has  been  in  forming  the  foundation-pit  in  the  rock,  which  was 
to  be  cut  down  two  or  three  levels,  and  the  whole  circle  of 
thirty  feet  finely  hammered.  To  give  greater  solidity  to  the 
work  the  levels  are  fastened  to  each  other  by  galvanized  iron 
bolts,  and  the  solid  masses  of  hewn  granite  dovetailed  and 
cemented  together.  "  On  Tuesday  morning,  the  first  day  of 
July,  1855,"  said  Capt.  Alexander  last  October,  "just  as  the 
sun  tipped  the  wings  of  the  seagull,  as  it  took  its  flight  over 
the  wave,  we  struck  our  first  blow  on  the  Minot.  The  first 
year  we  worked  upon  it  130  hours ;  in  1856,  157  hours  ;  in 
1857,  130  hours  and  21  minutes;  in  1858,  to  September  30th 
208  hours, — in  all  625  hours  21  minutes."  As  the  work  ad 
vances  in  height  above  the  level  of  the  tide,  it  will  of  course 
admit  of  a  full  day's  work  ;  and  Captain  Alexander  expressed 
the  opinion  last  October,  that  if  no  unforeseen  cause  of  delay 
occurred,  it  might  be  finished  in  two  years.  It  will  when 
completed  take  rank  with  the  Eddystone  and  Skerryvore  as  a 
piece  of  fearless  engineering. 

Among  the  ingenious  devices  for  distinguishing  light 
houses  from  each  other,  where  there  is  any  danger  of  confu 
sion,  are  the  arrangements,  to  which  I  have  already  alluded, 
for  revolving,  eclipsing,  flashing,  and  intermittent  lights, 
which,  with  the  addition  of  white  and  red  color,  are  capable 
of  almost  indefinite  variety.  A  more  pleasing  spectacle  is 
not  to  be  seen  on  earth  than  a  revolving  or  intermittent  light, 
which  disappears  for  a  few  seconds ;  then  sparkles  white  or 
red  ;  beams  out  gradually  to  its  full  illumination  ;  wanes  and 
disappears  but  to  return ;  seen  of  a  moonless  night  upon 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  317 

some  lonely  promontory  which  rears  its  grim  buttresses  from 
the  moaning  waters,  and  enabling  the  homeward  bound  vessel 
to  thread  its  way  to  its  destined  port  through  narrow  channels 
and  roaring  breakers,  regardless  of  the  tempest  ready  to  burst 
from  the  overhanging  cloud.  Such  an  eclipsing  light,  seen 
during  the  contemplative  watches  of  a  sleepless  night  on  the 
8th  of  July,  1855,  suggested  the  following  lines  : 

THE  ANTITHESIS  OF  LIFE: 

Via  Crucis,  Via  Lucia. 

It  goes  in  and  comes  out,  now  it  fades,  now  is  bright, 

And  it  guides  by  its  darkness,  as  well  as  its  light. 

So  a  word  fitly  spoken  is  potent  to  teach, 

But  silence  sometimes  talketh  better  than  speech. 

Force  winneth  the  battle,  force  driveth  the  throng, 

But  patient  endurance,  through  weakness,  is  strong. 

A  gay  sparkling  glance  is  right  joyous  to  see, 

But  a  deep  thoughtful  eye  hath  more  witchery  for  me. 

The  king  rules  his  realm  by  a  word,  by  a  whim, 

But  the  babe  that  can't  speak,*  from  his  cradle,  rules  him. 

So  the  pride  of  this  life  treads  the  path  of  renown, 

But  the  way  of  the  Cross  is  the  way  of  the  Crown. 

*  "Written  shortly  after  the  birth  of  the  Prince  Imperial  of  Franco. 


1STUMBEE    TIIIETY-FIYE. 

PRINCE   METTERNICH. 

Should  he  be  classed  -with  the  Illustrious  dead  of  1859  ?— His  success  civil  not  mili 
tary — Not  cruel  nor  bloodthirsty — His  government  mild  for  an  absolute  despo 
tism — Is  Lombardy  an  exception  ? — Anecdote  of  Silvio  Pellico  and  the  other 
conductors  of  the  Conciliatore — Metternich's  first  service  at  the  Congress  of 
Rastadt — The  four  coalitions — His  conduct  as  the  Austrian  minister  in  France — 
Anecdote  from  Capefigue  of  doubtful  authenticity — Was  he  the  projector  of  the 
marriage  of  Napoleon  I.  with  Marie  Louise  ? — Rules  Austria  in  peace  for  thirty- 
three  years — Sinks  at  last  in  1S4S — His  exile,  return,  and  the  close  of  his  career 
as  a  private  man. 

I  HAVE  in  some  late  Numbers  of  this  series  spoken  of  the 
ILLUSTRIOUS  dead  of  1850,  Prescott,  Bond,  Hallam,  and  Hum- 
boldt ;  all  surely  entitled  to  that  designation.  Since  those 
papers  appeared,  another  name  has  been  added  to  the  list  of  the 
distinguished  dead  of  this  year,  to  which  the  epithet  "  illus 
trious  "  must  with  greater  hesitation  be  applied.  If  talent  in 
his  peculiar  vocation,  rank,  power,  and — during  a  long  course 
of  years — success,  make  a  man  justly  "  illustrious,"  then  was 
Prince  Metternich  entitled  to  that  appellation.  He  belonged 
to  the  privileged  class  of  his  native  country ;  he  possessed  by 
nature  all  the  personal  endowments  which,  in  the  old  world, 
most  promote  success  in  life.  He  received  a  thorough  Ger 
man  education  for  a  public  career  ;  he  married  in  his  youth  a 
daughter  of  the  prime  minister,  and  rose  from  step  to  step  in 
positions  of  trust,  responsibility  and  power,  till  he  became, 
under  a  feeble  and  confiding  sovereign,  the  real  ruler  of  the 
oldest  and  one  of  the  most  powerful  monarchies  of  Europe. 
This  position  he  filled  for  forty  years,  in  the  most  difficult 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS.  319 

times, — in  a  period  of  general  political  disorganization,  and  in 
direct  collision  with  the  great  military  genius  of  the  age,  of 
whom  more  and  longer  than  any  other  individual  he  was  the 
direct  antagonist.  All  this,  in  the  ordinary  estimate  of  human 
endowment  and  performance,  must  be  admitted  to  make  a 
man  illustrious  ;  and  yet  I  should  be  ashamed  to  class  him 
with  the  great  intellectual  princes  who  have  enlarged  the 
bounds  of  human  knowledge  ;  who  have  traced  the  pathways 
of  Providence  in  the  fortunes  of  nations ;  who  have  discov 
ered  new  worlds  in  the  depths  of  the  heavens  ;  or  like  Hum- 
boldt  have  ruled  with  serene  mastery  over  the  whole  empire 
of  science. 

Some  things,  however,  may  be  said  to  the  honor  of  Met- 
ternich's  genius  and  career,  although  his  character  is  one  with 
which  I  have  no  sympathy.  In  an  age  when  every  thing 
bowed  to  the  supremacy  of  the  sword,  and  single  battles 
decided  the  fate  of  Empires  ; — when  men  rose  from  the  ranks 
and  shook  the  world ; — Metternich  attained  the  elevation 
which  I  have  described,  without  the  prestige  of  military  repu 
tation.  I  am  not  aware  that  he  ever  held  any  rank  in  the 
army  ;  he  certainly  never  served.  He  rose  with  fair  but  not 
commanding  advantages  of  birth,  under  the  most  intensely 
aristocratic  government  in  Europe,  by  the  force  of  talent, 
education,  manners,  untiring  industry,  and  a  resolute  purpose. 
I  do  not  deny  that  first  and  last  he  had  many  adventitious 
aids,  as  he  had  some  drawbacks  ;  but,  in  an  age  in  which,  in 
almost  every  country,  England  not  excepted,  the  greatest 
soldier  was  the  greatest  man,  Metternich's  undisputed  ascen 
dancy  was  earned  not  in  the  field  but  in  the  cabinet. 

It  may  also  be  said  to  the  credit  of  Metternich,  that, 
though  his  principles  of  government  were  those  of  unmiti 
gated  despotism, — the  exercise  of  sheer  power, — there  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  any  thing  tyrannical  and  still  less  any 
thing  blood-thirsty  in  his  nature.  He  started  with  the  princi 
ple  of  the  Right  Divine.  He  interpreted  Dei  Gratia  lite- 


320  THE   MOUNT   VEKXON    PAPERS. 

rally  ; — he  was  a  strict  construction ist  of  the  straitest  sect  in 
that  school.  But  having  laid  down  this  theory  of  government, 
and  practically  placed  his  administration  on  this  platform, 
he  studied  the  good  of  the  subject.  lie  would  not,  it  is  true, 
allow  him  to  study  his  own  good,  by  any  intermeddling  with 
public  affairs.  lie  enforced  a  severe  censorship  over  the 
press  ;  he  annihilated  political  journalism ;  he  shut  out  all 
foreign  literature,  which  he  deemed  dangerous  to  Church  or 
State,  with  greater  jealousy  than  he  did  the  plague, — for  you 
could  enter  Austria  from  Smyrna  or  Alexandria  after  a  rea 
sonable  quarantine,  but  there  was  no  quarantine  for  a  pesti 
lential  volume.  But  the  highways,  as  I  know  from  experience, 
were  safe  in  the  loneliest  passes  of  the  Carpathians, — private 
justice,  when  no  reasons  of  State  interfered,  and  although  a 
little  apt  to  get  buried  under  a  cartload  of  written  pleadings, 
(but  that  is  the  fault  not  of  the  government  but  of  the  code,) 
was  faithfully,  if  not  promptly,  administered ;  common  schools 
were  encouraged,  scientific  institutions  and  scientific  researches 
patronized,  and,  in  a  word,  the  material  well-being  of  the  peo 
ple  was  cared  for. 

In  his  person,  Prince  Mctternich  was  a  man  of  courteous 
manners,  and  temperate  and  industrious  habits, — a  hard 
worker,  a  patron  of  art,  a  collector  of  books,  paintings,  and 
statuary,  a  lover  of  music,  a  hospitable  and  genial  host. 
With  every  thing  to  turn  his  head  and  harden  his  heart,  he 
was,  individually,  what  may  be  called  an  unaffected,  honor 
able,  and  amiable  man.  Wielding  for  forty  years  absolute 
power  under  weak  princes, — reminding  you  of  the  Mayors  of 
the  palace  in  the  early  French  Monarchy,  under  the  reign  of 
the  insensati  (silly)  Kings,  there  are  probably  few  rulers  to 
whose  door  less  wanton  cruelty  can  be  laid, — at  any  rate  less 
shedding  of  blood. 

His  government  of  Lombardy  and  Venice  may  be  thought 
to  furnish  an  exception  to  this  remark ;  it  was  no  doubt  an 
iron  rule,  but  this  only  in  one  respect,  viz. :  that  all  political 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  321 

action  and  word  were  forbidden  under  the  severest  penalties, 
enforced  by  a  military  police  and  an  unrelenting  criminal 
code.  Regarding  the  Austrian  power  not  as  established  and 
accepted,  but  simply  as  encamped  in  Lombardy,  every  thing 
that  looked  like  the  manifestation  of  disaffection,  or  even  open 
opposition  to  the  government  was  regarded,  not  merely  as  dan 
gerous,  but  as  treasonable,  and  as  such  repressed.  But  there 
was  some  show  of  moderation  even  here.  Men  were  not 
taken  out  of  their  beds  and  shot,  nor  blown  away  from  the 
mouth  of  cannons  ;  but  they  were  sent  to  the  Piombi  of 
Venice  and  to  the  Spielberg  in  Moravia. 

I  made  the  acquaintance  of  Silvio  Pellico  at  Milan  in 
1810,  and  of  some  of  his  liberal  friends.  They  were  just-com 
mencing  the  publication  of  a  political  journal,  which  they 
called  the  "  Conciliatore,"  which  means  in  Italian  pretty  much 
what  it  means  in  English.  To  an  American  it  seemed  a 
remarkably  milk-and-water  concern.  It  had  the  fault,  hap 
pily  almost  unknown  in  this  country,  of  discussing  political 
questions  with  good  temper,  and  confuting  your  adversary 
•without  calling  him  hard  names.  In  short,  it  might  be  called 
tame.  In  the  few  numbers  which  had  come  out  at  that  time, 
I  did  not  see  the  Italian  equivalents  of  the  expressive  epithets 
of  "  hypocrite,"  "  coward,"  "  swindler,"  or  "  liar  "  applied  to 
a  single  official  from  the  throne  to  the  police  station.  The 
Emperor  was  not  even  called  a  "  fool,"  nor  the  vice-regal 
Archduke  a  "  tyrant."  It  is  plain  that  poor  Silvio  and  his 
associates  had  very  little  idea  of  the  beauty  of  a  free  press ; 
and  they  suffered  accordingly.  Like  all  "  conciliators  "  be 
tween  the  extremes  of  opinion,  they  pleased  the  ultraists  of 
neither  party.  Those  who  sought  the  emancipation  of  Italy  at 
the  point  of  the  dagger,  disdained  their  moderation  ;  while  the 
Public  Prosecutor  looked  upon  it  as  a  mere  pretext  to  insin 
uate  the  treason  which  they  dared  not  openly  teach.  I 
deemed  it  an  act  of  kindness  to  intimate  these  views  to  the 
conductors  of  the  Conciliatore,  and  half  in  jest  told  Silvio, 
14* 


322  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

that  I  should  hear  of  him  and  his  associates  in  the  Spielberg 
in  three  months.  The  prophecy  proved  true  with  a  little  dif 
ference  of  time ;  and  this  was  under  the  government  of 
Prince  Mettcrnich. 

The  London  "  Times  "  has  given  us  a  sketch  of  the  career 
of  the  great  statesman, — principally  borrowed  from  Vape- 
reau's  Dictionnaire  des  Contemporains,  or  from  some  common 
source, — which  has  been  generally  copied,  and  need  not  be 
here  repeated.  Pie  figured  in  Imperial  ceremonials,  while  yet 
a  youth  of  seventeen,  at  the  coronation  of  the  Emperor  Leo 
pold,  but  he  commenced  the  business  of  life  at  the  Congress 
of  Rastadt.  This  was  a  diplomatic  meeting,  called  to  make 
the  territorial  arrangements,  required  to  carry  into  effect  the 
secret  articles  of  the  treaty  of  Campo  Formio,  concluded  be 
tween  Austria  and  France  in  1797.  Metternich  attended  on 
behalf  of  the  "VYestphalian  Princes  ;  and  the  fruitless  negotia 
tions  of  this  body  protracted  to  the  year  1799,  ended  at  last 
in  an  event, — the  assassination  of  the  French  ministers  and 
the  seizure  of  their  papers, — which,  the  historian  tells  us,  at 
the  time  "  excited  the  utmost  indignation  and  horror  through 
out  Europe  ;  "  but  which  now — so  full  has  Europe  supped  of 
horrors,  in  the  sixty  years  which  have  elapsed — will  be  words 
without  meaning  to  the  most  of  my  readers. 

Of  the  great  coalitions  in  Europe,  by  which  the  four  other 
leading  powers  strove  to  arrest  the  progress  and  shatter  the 
system  of  Napoleon,  Metternich  was  incontestably  the  con 
triver  and  the  head.  Their  vitality  and  strength  were  due  to 
his  energy  and  tact,  and  to  British  subsidies.  No  one,  1  sup 
pose,  of  any  party,  will  now  blame  an  Austrian  Minister  for 
seeking  to  stop  the  march  of  Napoleon  the  First  to  Universal 
Empire.  Granting  his  ulterior  objects  to  be  as  beneficent  as 
they  are  represented  in  the  Idees  Napoleoniennes,  it  could  not 
be  expected  that  the  dynasties,  whose  extinction  was  the  con 
dition  of  his  success,  should  acquiesce  without  a  struggle  in 
their  doom.  Had  Metternich  been  as  liberal  in  his  general 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  323 

principles  of  administration,  and  as  regardful  of  the  "  nation 
alities  "  as  Kossuth  himself,  it  could  not  be  expected  of  an 
Austrian  Minister  to  lie  down  in  the  dust  before  the  chariot 
wheels  of  a  foreign  conqueror.  That  he  should,  as  the  Aus 
trian  representative  to  the  French  Imperial  Court,  endeavor 
to  mislead  Napoleon  as  to  his  own  feelings  and  the  policy  of 
his  government,  is  certainly  not  to  be  justified  by  the  rules  of 
a  severe  morality,  which  makes  the  truth  on  all  occasions  the 
first  duty  of  governments  and  of  men.  But  it  could  hardly 
be  expected  of  the  envoy  of  the  weaker  and  the  menaced 
government,  pitted  against  the  most  consummate  diplomatic 
finesse,  backed  by  the  most  overwhelming  military  power  in 
modern  history,  to  practice  upon  the  rules  of  Roman  or 
Christian  virtue.  There  is  a  proverb  which  need  not  be  re 
peated,  relative  to  the  length  of  the  spoon,  which  it  is  con 
venient  to  use,  when  you  sup  with  a  personage  who  shall  be 
nameless.  A  similar  precaution  will  not  be  severely  blamed 
by  the  charitable,  on  the  part  of  the  foreign  minister,  com 
pelled  to  cope  with  M.  de  Talleyrand. 

An  anecdote  is  related  by  Alison,  on  the  authority  of 
Capefigue,  of  which  the  authenticity  may  be  doubted.  It  is 
to  this  effect,  that  when  M.  de  Metternich  was  at  first  ac 
credited  to  the  French  Court,  Napoleon  remarked  to  him, 
"  you  are  very  young  to  represent  so  powerful  a  monarchy." 
His  reply  is  said  to  have  been,  "  Your  Majesty  was  not  older 
at  Austerlitz."  As  Napoleon  himself  was  at  the  moment  but 
thirty-seven,  and  had  been  for  several  years  at  the  head  of  the 
French  government,  it  does  not  seem  probable  that  he  should 
have  thought  thirty-three  very  young  for  an  Austrian  Minis 
ter.  The  reply  ascribed  to  Metternich  is  still  less  likely  to 
have  been  made.  Such  an  allusion  to  a  battle,  in  which  the 
armies  of  his  country  were  defeated,  and  the  Sovereign  he 
represented  was  humiliated,  never  passed  the  lips  of  a  patriot 
or  a  gentleman,  and  Metternich  was  both.  It  is  one  of  the 


324  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS. 

epigrams,  which  sensation  writers  put  into  the  mouths  of  the 
great  personages  they  attempt  to  describe. 

After  Wagram,  despairing  of  further  resistance  to  Napo 
leon,  and  intent  upon  building  up  Austria,  from  the  ruins  of 
four  vast  wars,  which  she  had  fought,  though  unsuccessfully, 
in  thirteen  years,  Prince  Metternich,  being  placed  at  the  head 
of  her  government,  on  the  retirement  of  Count  Stadion,  came 
to  the  conclusion,  that  a  durable  peace  and  intimate  relations 
with  France  were  absolutely  necessary  to  the  successful  pro 
motion  of  this  policy.  With  this  in  view,  acting  upon  the 
traditions  of  the  House  of  Austria,*  which  had  passed  into  a 
proverb  three  centuries  before,  he  determined  to  promote  a 
marriage  between  Napoleon  and  an  Austrian  archduchess. 
Alison  appears  to  represent  Metternich  himself  as  having 
stated  to  the  late  Lord  Londonderry,  that  it  was  his  first  care, 
on  acceding  to  power,  "  to  arrange  and  bring  about  the  mar 
riage."  The  common  account  gives  the  credit  of  this  "  ar 
rangement  "  to  Fouche.  A  more  probable  opinion  is,  that  it 
was  the  conception  of  Napoleon  himself; — not  a  man  to  have 
matches  made  for  him  by  his  own  ministers  or  those  of  any 
other  government.  By  whomsoever  conceived,  it  was  an  in 
auspicious  thought ;  but  one  which  might  well  catch  the  ima 
gination  of  an  Austrian  Minister,  weighing  sacraments,  and 
duties,  and  affections  in  the  scale  of  a  worldly  ambition.  It 
was  one  of  the  great  mistakes  of  Napoleon  the  First.  Napo 
leon  the  Third  did  a  wiser  and  a  worthier  thing,  when,  dis 
daining  to  engraft  his  dynasty  on  the  reluctant  royalties  of 
Europe,  he  raised  a  "  parvenue  "  partner,  to  use  his  own  ex- 

*  The  following  celebrated  epigram  is  ascribed  to  Mathias  Corvinus,  King  of 
Hungary  : 

Bella  gerant  alii,  tu,  felix  Austria,  nube, 
Nam  quffi  Mars  aliis  clat  tibi  regna  Venus : 

which  may  be  imperfectly  rendered, 

"  Let  others  war,  thou,  Austria,  wed  the  throne, 
Mars  gives  them  crowns,  by  Venus  thine  are  won." 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  325 

pression,  selected  for  her  amiable  personal  qualities,  to  his 
imperial  throne. 

From  the  downfall  of  Napoleon,  Metternich  ruled  Austria 
under  her  nominal  Sovereigns,  for  thirty-three  years.  He  it 
was  who,  availing  himself  of  the  religious  mysticism  which 
had  taken  possession  of  the  Emperor  Alexander  of  Russia, 
projected,  with  that  monarch,  the  Holy  Alliance.  At  the 
great  European  Congresses  which  were  held  under  its  aus 
pices  at  Aix  la  Chapelle,  Lay  bach,  and  Verona,  he  was  the 
great  representative  of  the  political  system  of  the  three  abso 
lute  governments  of  the  North  and  East  of  Europe.  He 
took  to  himself  the  credit  of  having,  mainly  by  his  skill  and 
firmness,  staid  the  advances  of  what  he  called  revolutionary 
ideas,  but  what  the  enlightened  masses  of  the  civilized  world 
regard  as  progress  and  reform.  He  had  some  reason  to  look 
upon  the  fruit  of  his  labors  with  complacency,  for  to  all  ap 
pearance  they  had  been  successful.  Every  revolutionary 
movement  in  Italy,  from  Lago  Maggiore  to  Calabria,  had 
been  crushed ;  and  though  France  and  Spain  had  adopted 
liberal  institutions,  those  powers  were  neither  of  them  in  a 
condition  to  set  on  foot  a  dangerous  propagandism  in  foreign 
States.  In  Russia,  Prussia,  and  his  own  Austria  his  system 
reigned.  The  territorial  arrangements  of  the  Great  Captain, 
with  whom  he  had  waged  so  fearful  a  struggle  had,  for  the 
most  part,  proved  transitory,  and  while  every  Sovereign  who 
had  ruled  when  the  Congress  of  Vienna  was  in  session,  and 
•almost  all  his  colleagues  and  associates  had  disappeared  from 
the  stage,  he  was  still  in  the  possession  of  his  faculties,  his 
power,  and  his  honors. — He  is  said,  however,  to  have  felt 
that  the  ground  beneath  his  feet  was  hollow.  He  had  chained 
the  tempest  but  he  heard  it  roaring  in  its  caverns.  It  is  con 
stantly  told  of  him,  that  he  was  accustomed  to  say  "  things 
will  last  as  long  as  I  do, — but  after  me  the  deluge."  The 
deluge  burst  before  he  expected  it.  The  rains  descended,  and 
the  floods  came,  and  the  winds  blew.  They  prostrated  his 


326  THE   MOTJJST   VEENON    PAPEKS. 

government,  his  system,  and  his  fortunes.  He  reluctantly 
yielded  up  the  seals  of  office  to  his  imperial  master,  who  cow 
ered  before  the  rising  storm  ;  and  while  the  rabble  of  Vienna 
was  sacking  his  princely  residence,  and  madly  scattering 
gilded  furniture  and  priceless  works  of  art  in  fragments  over 
his  trampled  lawns,  he  fled  for  his  life  to  England.  The 
deluge  subsided,  and  he  returned  to  his  estates  and  his  honors, 
but  never  more  to  the  possession  of  power.  He  enjoyed, 
however,  some  years  of  tranquil  retirement,  consulted  by  his 
successors  and  happy  in  his  children,  and  died  before  his  aged 
eyes  were  again  pained  by  the  sight,  with  which  they  had 
so  often  been  sadly  familiar,  the  inauguration  of  another  tre 
mendous  era  of  Austrian  Calamity. 


NUMBER   THTRTT-SIX. 

SEVEN  CRITICAL  OCCASIONS  AND  INCIDENTS    IN   THE    LIFE 
OF    WASHINGTON. 

Instances  of  an  overruling  Providence  in  the  lives  of  distinguished  men,  and  signally 
in  the  life  of  Washington — His  brother  Lawrence  an  officer  iu  the  expedition  un 
der  Admiral  Yernon  against  Carthagena — Plan  for  placing  George  in  the  British 
Navy,  and  a  midshipman's  warrant  procured — His  mother  opposes  the  plan,  and 
it  is  abandoned — Accompanies  his  brother  to  Barbadoes  at  the  age  of  nineteen  and 
takes  the  small-pox — Terrific  nature  of  that  disease  before  the  discovery  of  Vac 
cination — Appears  in  the  American  Army  in  1775  and  afterwards — Great  dangers 
to  which  Washington  was  exposed  on  his  mission  to  Venango — Hazards  of  an  ex 
cursion  at  that  time  in  the  districts  occupied  by  the  Indians — Their  cruelties — 
Narrow  escape  of  Washington  on  the  return — Concluding  reflection. 

IN  the  biographies  of  distinguished  persons,  we  sometimes 
read  the  account  of  very  narrow  escapes  from  great  dangers, 
or  of  incidents  not  seemingly  very  important  at  the  time,  but 
on  which  it  appears  in  the  sequel  that  the  whole  course  of 
after  life  depended.  Such  escapes  and  such  incidents  irresist 
ibly  lead  the  mind  to  acknowledge  a  controlling  Power,  which 
watches  over  great  and  precious  lives,  and  shapes  the  course 
of  otherwise  unimportant  events  to  the  accomplishment  of 
momentous  results.  Modern  Philosophy,  I  am  aware,  dis 
dains  these  inferences,  and  prefers  to  see  in  these,  as  in  all 
else  that  happens  in  the  world,  nothing  but  a  blind  fate  or  a 
mechanical  necessity  ;  as  if  that  system  did  not  present  equal 
difficulties  as  a  philosophical  theory,  while  it  extinguishes  the 
light  of  an  overruling  Providence  in  the  world ;  without 
which  our  life  is  a  weary  and  cheerless  pilgrimage. 

I  know  no  person  in  whose  life  these  narrow  escapes  and 


328  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS . 

these  critical  occurrences  are  more  numerous  and  striking 
than  they  are  in  that  of  Washington :  and  as  his  services  in 
peace  and  war,  and  his  whole  public  career  and  character 
stand,  in  many  respects,  without  a  parallel  in  human  history, 
I  find  it  impossible  not  to  trace  the  hand  of  a  protecting, 
guiding,  and  overruling  Power  on  occasions  which,  in  the  life 
of  an  ordinary  man  would  have  passed  without  notice. 

One  of  the  events,  in  which  these  remarks  find  their  appli 
cation,  was  the  project  formed  by  the  relatives  and  friends  of 
Washington,  when  he  was  but  fourteen  years  old,  to  place 
him  in  the  Navy  of  Great  Britain.  He  possessed  by  nature 
the  military  turn,  which  had  been  manifested  by  several  mem 
bers  of  his  family,  not  only  from  their  first  arrival  in  this 
country,  but  before  the  emigration  from  England.  His  elder 
brother,  Lawrence,  belonged  to  one  of  the  battalions  of 
American  troops,  which  sailed  from  America  to  reinforce  the 
army  under  General  Wentworth  and  Admiral  Vernon,  in  the 
unsuccessful  expedition  against  Carthagena  in  1740.  Several 
other  Virginians  were  in  the  same  expedition.  Among  them 
Mr.  William  Fairfax  and  Captain  Dandridge,  a  relation,  I 
presume,  of  the  lady  who  afterwards  became  General  Wash 
ington's  wife.  Captain  Lawrence  Washington  and  Captain 
Murray  are  named  as  the  commanders  of  a  battalion  of  two 
hundred  Americans,  who,  on  the  19th  of  March,  1740,  aided 
in  the  assault,  "  with  wonderful  resolution  and  success,"  of  a 
battery  which  commanded  the  entrance  into  the  harbor  of 
Carthagena.  This  is  the  only  occasion  on  which  I  find  his 
name  in  Rolt's  history  of  the  war  ;  but  his  conduct  is  known  to 
have  been  such  as  to  win  for  him  the  respect  of  his  superiors. 
He  formed  an  intimate  personal  acquaintance  with  the  Admiral, 
who  fortunately  escaped  from  that  most  disastrous  expedition 
against  Carthagena,  without  loss  of  the  credit  acquired  by  the 
capture  of  Porto  Bello.  On  the  return  of  Captain  Lawrence 
Washington  to  America,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  he  gave  to  his 
newly  erected  mansion  at  Hunting  Creek,  the  ever  memorable 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  329 

name  of  MOUNT  VERNON,  in  honor  of  the  popular  naval  hero 
under  whom  he  had  served. 

It  was  natural  that  these  circumstances  should  make  the 
naval  service  of  Great  Britain  a  familiar  subject  of  conversa 
tion  in  the  family  circle  ;  and  that  George,  then  a  boy  under 
fourteen,  being  a  frequent  resident  at  Mount  Vernon,  should 
have  his  juvenile  imagination  kindled  with  the  tales  of  naval 
prowess  and  glory,  which  were  so  often  repeated  in  his  pres 
ence.  It  is  not  known  whether  the  idea  of  entering  upon  that 
career  originated  with  himself  or  was  suggested  by  his  brother 
and  other  friends.  At  all  events  a  Midshipman's  warrant 
was  obtained  for  him,  and  it  is  even  said,  that  his  clothes 
were  packed  to  go  on  board  ship.  His  mother  alone  never 
cordially  approved  the  plan,  and  her  misgivings  increased  as 
the  time  for  putting  it  in  execution  drew  near.  Mr.  Sparks 
quotes  a  letter  from  Mr.  Jackson,  a  friend  of  the  family,  ap 
parently  written  from  Fredericksburg  to  Captain  Lawrence 
Washington  at  Mount  Vernon,  in  which  he  says  : 

"  I  am  afraid  Mrs.  Washington  will  not  keep  up  to  her  first  resolution. 
She  seems  to  dislike  George's  going  to  sea,  and  says  several  persons  have 
told  her  it  was  a  bad  scheme.  She  offers  several  trifling  objections,  such 
as  fond,  unthinking  mothers  habitually  suggest ;  and  I  find  that  one  word 
against  his  going  has  more  weight  than  ten  for  it." 

She  persevered  in  her  opposition,  and  the  project  was 
abandoned.  Had  Washington  at  the  age  of  fourteen  entered 
the  navy  of  Great  Britain,  then  engaged  in  the  war  of  1744 
with  France,  as  soon  afterwards  in  that  of  1756,  one  of  two 
things  would  unquestionably  have  happened.  He  would 
either  have  fallen  a  victim  to  the  hardships  and  exposures  of 
the  service,  or  he  would  have  lived  and  grown  up  an  officer 
— no  doubt  a  gallant  and  distinguished  one — in  the  British 
Navy.  I  cannot  therefore  but  regard  the  abandonment  of  this 
plan,  when  it  was  on  the  point  of  being  consummated,  and  in 
consequence  of  the  mother's  opposition,  as  an  occurrence  in 


330  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

Washington's  life  well  worthy  to  be  ascribed  to  an  overruling 
Providence. 

The  second  event,  in  reference  to  which,  though  of  an  en 
tirely  different  character,  I  am  disposed  to  make  a  similar 
reflection,  occurred  on  occasion  of  his  voyage  to  Barbadoes  a 
few  years  later.  This  was  the  only  occasion  on^which  Wash 
ington  ever  left  the  American  continent.  His  brother,  Cap 
tain  Lawrence,  whose  constitution,  naturally  feeble,  had  been 
impaired  on  the  fatal  expedition  against  Carthagena,  by  the 
effect  of  the  climate,  fell  into  a  decline,  and  was  ordered  to 
the  West  Indies ;  his  much  loved  brother,  George,  was  selected 
to  accompany  him.  They  sailed  for  Barbadoes  in  the  month 
of  September,  1751,  and  arrived  there  in  five  weeks,  George 
being  then  nineteen  years  of  age.  He  had  scarcely  been  a 
fortnight  in  the  island,  when  he  was  attacked  with  small  pox 
in  "  the  natural  way."  The  attack  was  severe,  but  skilful 
medical  attendance  and  the  assiduities  of  his  brother  and 
friends  were  successful.  He  recovered  in  about  three  weeks, 
but  he  showed  slight  marks  of  the.  disease  the  rest  of  his  life. 

The  reader  of  the  life  of  Washington,  perhaps,  passes 
over  this  incident  as  one  of  comparatively  little  consequence. 
Contrasted  with  the  stirring  events  of  his  military  and  politi 
cal  career,  it  hardly  attracts  notice.  But  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  in  any  of  his  battles  he  was  in  equal  danger.  The 
small  pox,  a  century  ago,  when  vaccination  was  unknown  and 
inoculation  not  universally  practised,  was  a  n-ame  of  terror. 
Of  all  the  shocks  that  flesh  is  heir  to,  few  transcended  this  loath 
some  disease,  in  the  havoc  which  it  caused  and  the  dismay 
which  it  inspired.  Wherever  it  appeared,  all  the  moveable 
population  fled  in  consternation.  By  the  young  and  the  fair 
it  was  dreaded  worse  than  death  :  to  survive  it  with  features, 
once  beautiful,  but  ploughed  into  ridges,  was  a  life-long  sor 
row.  It  carried  off  one  fourth-part  of  those  whom  it  at 
tacked,  and  of  the  survivors  many  who  lived,  disfigured  for 
life,  were  left  with  enfeebled  frames  and  morbid  predisposi- 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPKRS.  331 

tions.  If  it  entered  an  army,  it  was  a  foe  more  to  be  dreaded 
than  embattled  hosts ;  if  it  broke  out  in  a  populous  city, 
those  who  could  not  fly  were  decimated.  So  frightfully  con 
tagious  was  it,  that  no  attendance  could  be  procured  for  the 
sufferer,  except  from  those  who  had  passed  the  ordeal. 

But  fearful  as  this  malady  was,  in  the  extent  of  its  ravages, 
it  belongs  to  that  class  of  diseases  of  which,  by  a  mysterious 
law  of  our  nature,  our  frames  are,  generally  speaking,  suscep 
tible  but  once.  Of  those  who  survived  it,  it  has  been  calcu 
lated  that  the  proportion  to  whom  a  second  attack  proved 
fatal,  was,  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  but  one 
in  seventy-five.  This  reduced  it  far  below  the  level  of  many 
other  diseases  as  an  object  of  alarm  ;  and  in  diminishing  its 
terrors,  diminished  in  the  same  proportion  one  of  its  most 
disastrous  effects. 

Thus  it  came  to  pass  that,  in  the  morning  of  his  days,  by 
a  visitation  which  was  at  the  time  of  the  most  alarming  char 
acter,  Washington  became  (humanly  speaking)  safe  from  all 
future  danger  from  this  most  formidable  disease.  The  war 
of  the  Revolution  had  hardly  begun  before  the  importance  of 
this  circumstance  was  apparent.  The  small  pox  broke  out 
among  the  British  soldiery  in  Boston,  in  the  autumn  of  1775  ; 
and  reports  were  brought  to  General  Washington,  (which  he 
charitably  discredited,)  that  it  w^as  intended  by  the  enemy  to 
communicate  it,  by  means  of  those  who  left  the  city,  to  the 
American  Army.  It  did  make  its  appearance  outside  the  lines 
of  circumvallation,  and  as  a  measure  of  precaution,  the  soldiers 
of  the  besieging  army  were  inoculated.  At  this  time,  how 
ever,  that  practice  was  still  viewed  by  many  with  dislike ; 
and  the  fear  of  the  disease,  either  by  natural  or  artificial  con 
tagion,  was  one  great  cause  which  discouraged  enlistments. 
It  prevailed  in  the  army  in  Canada,  (where  Major-General 
Thomas,  of  Massachusetts,  died  of  it  the  next  spring ;)  at  Ti- 
conderoga ;  and  in  1777,  at  Morristown.  On  this  last  occa 
sion  of  its  appearance,  Washington  remarked  in  a  letter  to 


332  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

Patrick  Henry,  then  Governor  of  Virginia,  where  inoculation 
was  forbidden  by  law  : 

"  You  will  pardon  my  observations  on  Small  Pox,  because  I  know  it 
is  more  destructive  to  the  army,  in  the  natural  way,  than  the  enimies' 
sword,  and  because  I  shudder  whenever  I  reflect  upon  the  difficulties  of 
keeping  it  out !  " 

Such  was  the  fearful  character  of  the  danger  from  which 
Washington  was  protected  from  the  age  of  nineteen.  The 
loathsome  pestilence,  which  in  1751  menaced  the  life  of  the 
youthful  Virginian  traveller  in  Barbadoes,  was  in  reality  a 
charm  which  rendered  the  Beloved  Commander  of  the  Amer 
ican  Armies  in  1775,  and  in  the  following  years  of  the  con 
test,  all  but  invulnerable,  in  the  presence  of  a  foe  "  more 
destructive  than  the  enemy's  sword."  If  to  refer  this  to  an 
overruling  Providence  be  a  superstition,  I  desire  to  be  ac 
counted  superstitious. 

On  the  memorable  expedition  of  Major  Washington  to 
the  post  of  the  French  military  Governor  at  Venango  in  1753 
— his  first  entrance  into  active  public  duty  of  that  kind — he 
was  exposed  to  dangers  from  which  his  escape  was  all  but 
miraculous.  The  journey  of  five  or  six  hundred  miles  was 
made  in  the  winter  season,  through  a  country  as  yet  unset 
tled,  and  a  considerable  part  of  it  still  traversed  by  the  natives 
of  the  continent,  many  of  whom  were  under  French  influence. 
Perils  of  no  ordinary  kind  attended  him  every  step  of  the 
way.  Few  persons,  probably,  at  the  present  day  have  an 
adequate  idea  of  the  danger,  which  at  that  time  attended  any 
excursion  from  the  settled  portions  of  the  country  into  the 
districts  still  occupied  by  the  native  tribes.  Frontier  war 
even  among  civilized  races  is  ever  unrelenting  ;  the  collisions 
of  the  civilized  and  barbarous  races  in  the  mutual  reactions 
of  provocation  and  vengeance,  have  in  all  times  been  deplor 
ably  merciless.  In  1753  a  new  element  was  added  to  the 
bitterness  of  border  warfare,  by  the  efforts  of  the  Provincial 


THE  MOUNT  VEBNON  PAPEKS.  333 

governments  both  of  France  and  England  to  secure  the  co 
operation  of  the  natives  in  the  approaching  struggle.  It  is 
scarcely  necessary  to  say  to  those  who  are  familiar  with  the 
dark  accounts  and  traditions  of-  Indian  warfare,  what  this  co 
operation  implied.  The  native  races,  not  yet  broken  by  the 
power  nor  enervated  by  the  contact  of  the  dominant  races, 
still  practised  those  revolting  cruelties  on  their  prisoners, 
which  cannot  be  read  without  sickening  horror.  After  Brad- 
dock's  defeat — two  years  later  than  General  Washington's 
journey  to  Venango,  the  English  soldiers  who  surrendered 
themselves  as  prisoners,  were,  within  sight  and  hearing  of 
Fort  Duquesne,  made  to  undergo  at  the  stake  for  hours,  the 
most  exquisite  tortures  which  the  human  frame  could  sup 
port,  or  savage  ingenuity  inflict.  Such  were  the  perils  to 
which  Washington  was  exposed,  in  voluntarily  undertaking 
this  dangerous  expedition.  Traders  from  the  Anglo-American 
settlements  had  already  been  made  prisoners,  in  some  cases 
sent  to  France,  in  some,  it  was  said,  put  to  death  in  the  wil 
derness,  where  a  life  more  or  less,  even  in  time  of  peace,  was 
of  little  account. 

Having  fulfilled  his  mission,  and  fearing  that  sinister  in 
fluences  might  be  exerted  over  the  Indians  on  his  return,  he 
was  compelled  to  accelerate  his  departure.  As  he  traversed 
the  woods  with  his  pack  on  his  back,  attended  by  a  single 
companion,  their  treacherous  savage  guide  at  night-fall  turned, 
and  at  a  distance  of  fifteen  paces,  fired  but  without  result,  at 
Washington  and  his  companion.  Escaped  from  this  immi 
nent  peril,  but  well  knowing  that  the  Indians  were  on  their 
trail,  they  pursued  their  journey  foot-sore  for  the  whole  of  a 
December  night,  till  they  reached  the  Alleghany  river  then 
filled  with  drift  ice.  It  could  be  crossed  only  on  a  raft  which 
they  labored  all  day  with  "  one  poor  hatchet "  to  construct. 
In  attempting  to  cross  the  river  on  this  raft,  Washington 
while  using  the  setting  pole,  was  thrown  with  violence  into 
the  water  where  it  was  ten  feet  deep,  and  saved  his  life  only 


334:  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

by  clinging  to  a  log.  Unable  to  force  the  raft  to  either  shore 
they  passed  the  night,  in  garments  which  froze  to  their  bodies, 
upon  an  island  in  the  middle  of  the  stream.  Had  the  morn 
ing  found  them  there,  unable  to  reach  the  left  bank,  the  toma 
hawk  and  the  scalping  knife  \vould,  in  all  human  probability, 
have  been  their  fate.  But  the  cold  which  was  so  intense, 
that  Washington's  companion — hardy  woodman  as  he  was, 
froze  his  feet — froze  the  river  between  the  Island,  where  they 
had  passed  the  night,  and  the  left  bank  of  the  Alleghany,  and 
at  dawn  they  crossed  in  safety. 

I  have  no  metaphysics  to  bandy  with  those  who  can  reflect 
on  the  career  which  was  in  reserve  for  Washington,  and  who 
can  see  nothing  in  his  escape  from  the  rifle  of  his  guide,  from 
capture  from  the  pursuing  savages,  from  imminent  danger  of 
drowning,  and  from  his  unsheltered  exposure  in  frozen  gar 
ments  for  a  livelong  December  night,  but  the  ordinary  ad 
ventures  of  a  bold  young  man  on  the  wilderness  frontier.  I 
see  rather  in  these  perils  and  in  these  escapes,  the  hand  of 
Providence  ; — and  hear  in  them  a  voice,  which  in  the  language 
of  the  devout  poet,  announced  the  high  purpose : — 

"To  exercise  him  in  the  Wilderness  : 
There  shall  he  first  lay  down  the  rudiments 
Of  his  great  warfare,  ere  I  send  him  forth 
To  conquer." 


NUMBER   THIRTY-SEYEK 

SEVEN  CRITICAL  OCCASIONS  AND  INCIDENTS    IN  THE    LIFE 
OF    WASHINGTON. 

Braddock's  expedition  in  1755 — Washington  a  volunteer  aid — Falls  ill  on  the  way 
and  sent  back  to  the  reserve — Joins  the  army  the  day  before  the  engagement — 
Beautiful  scene  of  war  on  the  morning  of  the  battle — Surprise  and  total  defeat  of 
General  Braddock's  army— Gallant  conduct  of  Colonel  Washington  throughout 
the  engagement — Great  danger  to  which  he  was  exposed — Interview  with  an  In 
dian  Chieftain  on  the  Kanawha  in  1770 — Prediction  in  1755  of  his  future  career — 
Keflection  by  Mr.  Sparks— Washington's  visit  to  New  York  in  1756,  where  he  is 
the  guest  of  Beverley  Kobinson— Makes  the  acquaintance  of  Mary  Philipse — She 
marries  Captain  Orme  and  adheres  with  her  family  to  the  royal  cause. 


THE  next  instance  of  a  Providential  interposition  in  the 
life  of  Washington,  to  which  I  shall  allude,  took  place  two 
years  later.  The  mission  to  Venango,  which  I  mentioned  in 
my  last  Number,  was  undertaken  by  direction  of  the  Gover 
nor  of  Virginia,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  strength 
of  the  French  on  the  north-western  frontier,  and  their  proba 
ble  designs  in  that  quarter.  The  following  year,  (1754,) 
though  the  war  was  not  declared  in  Europe  till  1756,  a  small 
military  force  was  sent  in  that  direction,  under  Colonel 
Washington,  which  after  some  partial  success,  was  forced  by 
the  greatly  superior  strength  of  the  enemy  to  a  disastrous 
retreat.  It  is  mentioned  by  the  historians  as  a  striking  coin 
cidence,  that  he  was  compelled,  under  capitulation,  to  evacuate 
"  Fort  Necessity,"  (so  called  to  indicate  the  straits  to  which 
he  had  been  reduced,)  on  the  4th  of  July  1754  ; — the  day  to 
be  afterwards  rendered,  and  in  no  small  degree  by  his  inesti 
mable  services,  forever  memorable  in  the  annals  of  America. 


336  THE  MOUNT  VEBNON  PAPEES. 

Such  were  the  courage,  skill,  and  energy  displayed  by  the 
youthful  commander  in  these  trying  scenes,  that  he  came  out 
of  the  campaign  not  only  without  reproach  but  with  enhanced 
reputation. 

The  following  year  a  great  effort  was  made  by  the  mother 
country  to  repair  the  disasters  of  1754,  and  to  secure  an  as 
cendency  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  ;  for  this  was  the  limit  of 
Anglo-American  ambition  before  the  seven  years'  war.  The 
wildest  imagination  had  not  yet  grasped  the  mighty  domain 
which  stretches  westward  to  the  peaceful  ocean  and  the  set 
ting  sun.  Early  in  the  spring  of  1755,  two  regiments  of  reg 
ular  British  troops,  commanded  by  General  Braddock,  a  brave 
and  experienced  officer,  but  arrogant,  passionate,  and  self- 
willed,  arrived  in  Virginia,  and  were  moved  westward  toward 
the  passes  through  the  Alleghanies.  Colonel  Washington  had 
retired  from  the  army,  disgusted  by  the  regulations,  which 
gave  precedence  to  officers  holding  under  the  royal  commis 
sion  over  their  seniors  of  the  same  rank  in  the  provincial 
service,  thus  placing  him  under  those  whom  he  had  com 
manded  in  the  former  campaign.  Influenced,  however,  by 
strong  attraction  toward  military  life,  and  animated  by  fer 
vent  patriotic  zeal,  he  accepted  the  invitation  of  General 
Braddock,  (to  whom  he  had  been  made  known  by  reputation, 
as  the  officer  of  the  greatest  experience  and  ability  in  the  pro 
vincial  service,)  to  join  his  military  family  as  a  volunteer  aid. 
On  the  passage  through  the  mountains  Colonel  Washington 
was  attacked  by  a  fever,  with  such  violence  that  the  surgeon 
was  alarmed  for  his  life,  and  the  General  required  him  to  fall 
back  upon  the  reserve,  which  was  proceeding  slowly  with  the 
baggage  and  heavy  artillery.  To  this  Washington  consented, 
only  on  condition  that  he  should  be  allowed  to  join  the  main 
body  before  an  engagement.  Placed  under  the  care  of  the 
surgeon  in  a  wagon,  reduced  by  disease,  and  suffering  from 
the  uneasy  motion  of  the  vehicle,  he  remained  with  the  re 
serve  two  weeks,  and  was  only  able  to  return  to  Head  Quar- 


THE    MOUNT   VE32NON    PAPERS.  337 

ters  on  the  8th  of  July,  the  eve  of  the  battle  of  the  Mononga- 
hela,  a  day  disastrous  beyond  all  others  in  the  annals  of 
America. 

Weak  and  exhausted,  but  strong  in  the  spirit,  Washington 
mounted  his  horse  the  following  day.  He  was  often  heard  to 
say  in  after  life — 

"That  the  most  beautiful  spectacle  he  had  ever  beheld  was  the  dis 
play  of  the  British  troops  on  this  eventful  morning.  Every  man  was 
neatly  dressed  in  full  uniform,  the  soldiers  were  arranged  in  columns, 
and  marched  in  exact  order, — the  sun  gleamed  from  their  burnished  arms, 
the  river  flowed  tranquilly  on  their  right,  and  the  deep  forest  overshad 
owed  them  with  solemn  grandeur  on  the  left."  * 

The  army  was  within  less  than  fifteen  miles  of  Fort  Du- 
quesne,  (afterwards  Pittsburg,)  and  confidently  expected  to 
effect  its  reduction  in  the  course  of  the  day. 

Washington,  though  but  one  night  in  camp,  had  in  vain 
besought  General  Braddock  to  accept  the  proffered  aid  of  the 
friendly  Indians,  and  employ  them  in  reconnoitering  the 
broken  and  wooded  region  through  which  the  army  was  to 
pass,  on  the  way  to  its  destination.  The  advice  was  disdain 
fully  rejected  by  the  General,  who  placed  full  reliance  on  the 
discipline  and  steadiness  of  King's  troops.  Unhappily  he 
knew  the  game  of  war  only  as  it  was  practised  in  those  days 
by  rules  of  art,  with  the  regularity  of  a  chess  board.  The 
terrific  tactics  of  the  wilderness  ;  the  crack  of  the  rifle  from 
the  invisible  foe  ;  the  fearful  war-whoop  ;  the  stealthy  savage 
creeping  on  his  belly  through  the  thicket  up  to  the  saddle 
girths  of  his  startled  enemy  ;  the  gleaming  scalping-knife ; 
and  the  effect  of  these  unexperienced  terrors  on  the  imagina 
tions  of  European  troops  were  unknown  to  him. — His  army, 

*  This  beautiful  description  is  taken  from  Mr.  Sparks'  life  of  Washington,  in  the 
first  volume  of  his  edition  of  Washington's  writings.  Since  the  appearance  of  thb 
invaluable  work,  no  one  has  had  occasion  to  write  or  to  speak  of  Washington,  with 
out  feeling  himself  under  the  highest  obligations  to  Mr.  Sparks.  A  very  interesting 
monograph  on  Braddock's  expedition  by  Winthrop  Sargent,  Esq.  appears  among  the 
publications  of  the  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society. 

15 


338  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

in  magnificent  array  and  in  order  of  battle,  had  in  the  course 
of  the  morning  crossed  the  winding  stream  twice  without  ac 
cident,  and  the  advance  under  Colonel  Gage,  (afterwards  the 
last  Colonial  Governor  of  Massachusetts,)  was  ascending  the 
first  elevation  above  the  meadow,  when  a  sharp  volley  from 
an  unseen  enemy  in  the  woods  was  heard.  Presently  a  heavy 
discharge  followed  in  front  and  on  the  flanks  ;  the  advanced 
party  in  dismay  fell  back  on  the  main  body  hastening  up 
to  their  relief; —  a  force  of  two  hundred  French  and  six  hun 
dred  Indians  (numbers  far  inferior  to  those  of  the  British 
army)  rushed  from  the  thicket ;  the  dismayed  regulars  fired 
at  random  on  friend  and  foe ;  and  after  a  wild  and  murderous 
conflict  of  three  hours,  fled  panic  stricken  from  the  field  of 
slaughter, 

Washington  was  in  the  thickest  of  this  murderous  action, 
conducting  himself,  according  to  the  testimony  of  a  brother 
officer,  with  "the  greatest  courage  and  resolution."  His 
fellow  aids,  Captains  Orrne  and  Morris,  were  disabled  by  their 
wounds,  and  he  only  remained  to  convey  the  orders  of  his 
unfortunate  chief.  "  I  expected  every  moment,"  said  Dr. 
Craik,  his  friend  and  physician,  "  to  see  him  fall."  Of  eighty- 
six  officers  in  the  engagement  twenty-six  were  killed,  and 
thirty-seven  wounded ;  and  of  the  privates,  about  twelve  hun 
dred  in  number,  the  killed  and  wounded  amounted  to  seven 
hundred  and  fourteen.  If  these  numbers,  augmented  in  pro 
portion  to  the  size  of  the  armies,  are  applied  to  the  losses 
sustained  in  the  recent  engagements  in  Lombardy,  it  will  be 
immediately  perceived  that,  in  the  number  of  the  killed  and 
wounded,  the  battles  of  Magenta  and  Solfermo  do  not  com 
pare  with  the  ever  memorable  battle  of  the  Monongahela, 

Washington  was  not  merely  exposed  to  what  may  be  called 
the  ordinary  and  unavoidable  dangers  of  such  a  day,  but  to  a 
risk,  (as  afterwards  appeared  in  a  very  extraordinary  manner,) 
most  imminent  and  peculiar.  In  the  year  1770,  in  company 
with  his  friend,  Dr.  Craik,  he  descended  the  Ohio  on  a  tour 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  339 

of  observation  as  far  as  the  great  Kanhawa,  and  there  the 
incident  occurred,  avouched  by  Dr.  Craik,  which  I  give  in  the 
language  of  Mr.  Irving  : — 

"  Here  Washington  was  visited  by  an  old  Sachem,  who  approached 
him  with  great  reverence,  at  the  head  of  several  of  his  tribe,  and  addressed 
him  through  Nicholson,  the  interpreter.  He  had  heard,  he  said,  of  his 
being  in  that  part  of  the  country,  and  had  come  from  a  great  distance 
to  see  him.  On  further  discourse,  the  Sachem  made  known,  that  he  was 
one  of  the  warriors  in  the  service  of  the  French,  who  lay  in  ambush  on 
the  banks  of  the  Monongahela,  and  wrought  such  havoc  in  Braddock's 
army.  He  declared  that  he  and  his  young  men  had  singled  out  Wash 
ington,  as  he  made  himself  conspicuous,  riding  about  the  field  of  battle 
with  the  general's  orders,  and  fired  at  him  repeatedly,  but  without  suc 
cess  ;  whence  they  concluded  that  he  was  under  the  protection  of  the 
Great  Spirit,  that  he  had  a  charmed  life,  and  could  not  be  slain  in  bat 
tle." 

Washington  himself,  at  the  time,  was  not  unaware  of  the 
danger  to  which  he  was  exposed,  nor  of  the  Power  by  which 
it  was  averted.  In  a  letter  to  his  brother,  he  says,  "  By  the 
all-powerful  dispensations  of  Providence,  I  have  been  pro 
tected  beyond  all  human  probability  and  expectation ;  for  I 
had  four  bullets  through  my  coat,  and  two  horses  shot  under 
me,  yet  I  escaped  unhurt,  although  death  was  levelling  my 
companions  on  every  side."  His  remarkable  preservation, 
through  the  dangers  of  this  dreadful  day,  attracted  general 
notice,  and  Dr.  Daveis,  of  Virginia,  afterwards  President  of 
Princeton  College,  in  a  discourse  a  few  weeks  afterwards,  be 
fore  a  volunteer  company  of  Hanover  county,  alluded  to  "  that 
heroic  youth  Col.  Washington,  whom  I  cannot  but  hope  Provi 
dence  has  hitherto  preserved  in  so  signal  a  manner  for  some 
important  service  to  his  country."  It  is  doubtful  if  a  mere 
human  prediction,  inspired  by  early  promise,  was  ever  so 
remarkably  fulfilled  in  after  life.  It  is  one  of  those  striking 
cases  where  the  foresight  of  a  wise  man  becomes  prophecy. 
The  expedition  under  Braddock  was  the  most  formidable 


310  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

which  had  ever  been,  at  that  time,  undertaken  in  British 
America,  and  its  result  spread  dismay  throughout  the  conti 
nent.  It  furnishes  a  most  signal  illustration  of  the  paralyzing 
power  of  Panic,  to  which  I  have  alluded  in  a  former  number 
of  these  papers  ;  and  it  brought  down  upon  the  ill-fated  Com 
mander's  grave  the  bitterest  reproaches  of  his  Government 
and  the  country.  Washington  alone,  of  all  in  conspicuous 
stations,  came  out  of  the  havoc  of  the  day,  not  only  with  un 
tarnished,  but  with  enhanced  honor  ;  and  a  reverent  anticipa 
tion,  as  we  have  seen,  of  some  momentous  connection  between 
his  career,  and  the  fortunes  of  the  country,  took  possession  of 
the  public  mind.  It  is  impossible  to  withhold  assent  from  the 
reflections  of  Mr.  Sparks  : 

"  Contrary  to  his  will,"  says  this  judicious  writer,  "  and  in  spite  of  his 
efforts,  he  had  gathered  laurels  from  the  defeat  and  ruin  of  others.  Had 
the  expedition  been  successful,  these  laurels  would  have  adorned  the 
brow  of  his  superiors.  It  might  have  been  said  of  him,  that  he  had  done 
his  duty,  and  acquitted  himself  honorably,  but  he  could  not  have  been 
the  prominent  and  single  object  of  public  regard  ;  nor  could  he  by  a  long 
series  of  common  events,  have  risen  to  so  high  an  eminence,  or  acquired 
in  so  wide  a  sphere,  the  admiration  and  confidence  of  the  people.  For 
himself,  for  his  country  and  mankind,  therefore,  this  catastrophe,  in  ap 
pearance  so  calamitous  and  so  deeply  deplored  at  the  time,  should  un 
questionably  be  considered  as  a  WISE  AND  BENEFICENT  DISPENSATION  OF 
PROVIDENCE." 

Ill  a  career  like  Washington's,  there  is  scarce  any  thing, 
that  can  be  called  private  life  ;  his  domestic  relations  even 
connect  themselves  with  the  public  interests.  The  year  after 
Braddock's  defeat,  Colonel  Washington  went  to  Boston  with 
two  brother  officers,  from  his  post  on  the  Virginia  and  Mary 
land  frontier,  to  take  the  decision  of  Governor  Shirley,  the 
recently  appointed  Commander-in-Chief  of  all  the  royal  forces 
on  the  Continent,  on  the  questions  of  precedence  between  the 
Crown  and  Provincial  officers,  which  continually  embarrassed 
the  service.  Going  and  returning,  he  was  the  guest  at  New 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  34:1 

York  of  an  early  friend  arid  school-mate,  Beverley  Robinson, 
son  of  Colonel  John  Robinson,  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses  of  Virginia,  whose  happy  compliment  to  Washing 
ton's  modesty  is  so  well  known.  Mr.  Beverley  Robinson  had 
lately  married  one  of  the  nieces  and  heiresses  of  Mr.  Adolphus 
Philipse,  a  great  landholder,  whose  manor-house  is  still  to  be 
seen  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson.  In  the  family  circle  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Robinson,  Washington  formed  the  acquaintance 
of  her  sister,  Mary  Philipse,  a  young  lady  "  whose  personal 
attractions,"  according  to  Mr.  Irving,  "  are  said  to  have  equalled 
her  reputed  wealth.  *  *  *  That  he  was  an  open  admirer  of 
this  lady,  is  an  historical  fact ;  that  he  sought  her  hand  and 
was  refused,  is  traditional  and  not  very  probable."  His 
public  duties  hastened  his  return  southward,  and  Captain 
Morris,  his  brother  aid-de-camp  in  the  battle  of  the  Monon- 
gahela,  became  his  successful  rival.  These  facts  are  usually 
mentioned  only  as  a  personal  anecdote  of  no  great  impor 
tance  in  the  life  of  Washington  ;  but  it  would  not  be  extrava 
gant  to  ascribe  to  them  an  important,  not  to  say  decisive  con 
nection,  with  his  subsequent  career.  At  that  time  no  thought 
of  the  future  wrongs  of  America  and  of  her  conflicts  with 
the  Mother  Country  had  entered  the  minds  of  men.  Wash 
ington  had  been  the  associate  and  was  the  friend  of  many 
officers  in  the  royal  service ;  he  desired  and  sought  employ 
ment  in  it  himself.  In  no  part  of  the  British  dominions  was 
the  sentiment  of  loyalty  more  warmly  cherished  than  in  these 
transatlantic  colonies.  If  then  at  the  age  of  twenty -five,  with 
these  predispositions,  if  he  had  formed  a  matrimonial  connec 
tion,  such  as  that  in  question,  with  a  lady  of  great  personal  attrac 
tions  and  wealth,  already  connected  by  marriage  with  a  friend 
of  his  youth,  is  it  a  reproach  to  his  memory  to  say,  that  he 
too  like  his  successful  rival,  might  have  adhered  to  the  royal 
cause  and  have  been  lost  to  America  ?  That  like  him  when 
the  appeal  was  made  to  arms  he  might  have  gone  "  home  "  to 


34:2  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

England  ?  There  the  lady,  I  believe,  died  as  late  as  1825, 
having  lived  to  see  the  young  officer,  her  admirer  in  youth, 
become  the  great  leader  of  the  American  Revolution,  the  first 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  to  survive  him  twenty-five 
years. 


NUMBEE  THIRTY-EIGHT. 

SEVERAL  CRITICAL  OCCASIONS  AND  INCIDENTS  IN  THE  LIFE 
OF  WASHINGTON 

"Washington  desires  in  early  life  a  commission  in  the  Eoyal  Army— Exclusion  of  Col 
onists  from  promotion  in  the  Eoyal  establishments— His  taste  for  military  life— 
His  distinguished  services  in  the  seven  years1  war  attract  no  notice  "  at  home  "— 
At  its  close,  having  no  hope  of  advancement,  he  retires  from  military  life — After 
an  interval  of  seventeen  years,  re-appears  commander-in-chief  of  the  armies  of 
United  America — At  the  battle  of  Princeton,  Washington,  in  his  own  opinion,  ran 
the  greatest  risk  of  his  life,  being  between  the  fire  of  both  parties — Colonel  Trum- 
bull's  picture— Eeputation  acquired  by  Washington  abroad  by  the  surprise  of  the 
Hessians  and  the  battle  at  Princeton — Testimony  of  the  historian  Botta. 

THE  circumstances  which  decide  the  course  of  events  in 
after  life  generally  date  from  early  years,  and  not  obtaining 
notoriety  at  the  time,  are  afterwards,  even  in  the  case  of  very 
eminent  men,  liable  to  be  forgotten.  It  has  already  been 
seen  by  how  narrow  a  chance  Washington  was  in  his  boy 
hood  prevented  from  becoming  a  British  naval  officer,  and 
thus  entering  a  career  which  would  have  withdrawn  him 
infallibly  from  the  scene  of  his  subsequent  service  and  glory. 
Probably  without  reference  to  any  thing  but  the  removal  of  a 
lad  of  fourteen  years  from  home,  and  to  the  necessary  discom 
forts  and  dangers  of  the  service,  his  mother  opposed  this  ar 
rangement,  and  in  so  doing  gave  to  the  country  the  great  leader 
of  the  Revolution,  and  the  first  President  of  the  United  States. 
In  like  manner,  a  strong  desire  and  a  fixed  purpose  of  his 
own,  formed  at  a  period  of  life  when  men  become  (as  far  as 


344  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPEHS. 

that  is  ever  the  case)  the  masters  of  their  own  destiny,  led 
Washington  to  seek  a  commission  in  the  Royal  army.  This 
object,  so  long  as  he  remained  in  active  service  under  the 
provincial  government,  during  the  old  French  war,  he  sought 
to  effect  in  every  way  in  which  a  young  man  of  merit  and 
honor  can  seek  his  own  advancement.  If  he  had  succeeded,  he 
would  have  followed  the  fortunes,  as  he  must  have  shared  the 
dangers,  of  military  service  ;  have  fallen  in  action  on  some 
hard  fought  field  in  America,  Europe,  or  the  East,  or  have 
risen  to  distinction  in  the  Britsh  army  ;  and  thus,  when  the 
war  of  American  Independence  broke  out,  have  been  found, 
not  at  the  head  of  its  newly  mustered  armies,  but  in  the 
ranks  of  its  veteran  enemies. 

Less  attention,  perhaps,  than  they  merit  has  been  given 
to  these  early  views  of  Washington,  and  the  steps  taken  by 
him  to  carry  them  into  effect.  Accustomed  as  we  are  to  an 
Independent  government,  and  to  all  the  consequences  which 
flow  from  it,  we  do  not  form  a  lively  conception  of  the  state 
of  things  which  existed  when  the  seat  of  power  and  the  foun 
tain  of  honor  were  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic ;  and  when 
the  only  ordinary  channel  through  which  advancement  could  be 
sought  or  obtained  in  the  Colonies,  was  that  of  the  Royal 
favorites  who  were  sent  out  to  govern  them.  This,  in  fact,  is 
one  of  the  great  vices  of  Colonial  rule,  which  unfits  it  for  a 
mature  stage  of  national  growth.  It  wras  unquestionably  an 
active  though  not  an  avowed,  perhaps  not  a  consciously 
admitted,  cause  of  the  disaffection  to  the  mother  country, 
which  prevailed  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and  which  termi 
nated  in  the  separation.  The  cause  of  the  colonies  was,  from 
the  supposed  necessity  of  the  case,  argued  on  narrow  grounds. 
The  right  of  the  Imperial  Parliament  to  tax  America  was 
denied,  while  an  unlimited  right  of  commercial  regulation  was 
admitted,  under  which  the  trade  and  navigation  of  the  Colo 
nies  were  subjected  to  the  most  oppressive  restrictions,  and 
manufacturing  industry  placed  under  the  ban.  The  same 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPEKS.  345 

great  and  liberal  minister,  (Lord  Chatham,)  -who  rejoiced  that 
America  resisted  the  acts  of  Parliament,  which  laid  a  trifling 
duty  on  tea,  would  not  allow  the  Colonies  to  manufacture  "  a 
hobnail,"  and  was  willing  that  a  water-wheel  should  be 
abated  as  a  nuisance.  The  loyal  metaphysics  of  the  "  Sons 
of  Liberty  "  found  a  constitutional  argument  against  the  tax 
on  Colonial  imports,  but  admitted  the  right,  and  hardly  mur 
mured  against  the  policy  of  prohibiting  Colonial  manufac 
tures,  and  restricting  the  navigation  of  the  Colonies  to  the 
mother  country.  But  it  no  doubt  was  a  grievance  equally 
felt,  if  not  openly  resented,  that  the  paths  of  promotion,  gen 
erally  speaking,  were  shut  upon  the  children  of  the  country. 
It  was  only  in  exceptional,  almost  accidental  cases,  that  a 
native  could  rise  in  the  Royal  army  or  navy,  or  in  the  Civil 
administration  of  the  Colonies.  Advancement  in  the  Im 
perial  government  was  out  of  the  question,  on  any  other  con 
dition  than  that  of  expatriation.  All  lucrative  and  honorable 
places  in  these  Colonies,  as  in  all  Colonies,  then  as  now, 
except  so  far  as  wisdom  has  been  learned  from  experience, 
constituted  the  appanage  of  younger  sons  and  the  prey  of 
needy  courtiers.  Posts  of  trust  and  emolument  were  appro 
priated,  not  for  the  purpose  of  rewarding  merit  or  employing 
talent  in  the  field  of  service,  but  to  gratify  the  caprice  or  to 
consummate  the  bargains  of  the  minister  and  his  friends.  It 
is  unhappily  but  too  easy  for  bad  men  to  get  into  office,  even 
when  they  are  chosen  by  those  who  suffer,  if  they  choose 
amiss  ;  but  this  penalty  furnishes  some  protection  against  an 
injudicious  or  corrupt  choice.  To  impose  by  a  sheer  act  of 
power  an  incompetent  or  a  worthless  magistrate,  on  a  remote 
community,  is  at  once  a  wrong  and  an  insult.  But  this  is, 
and  almost  by  necessary  operation,  the  genius  of  metropoli 
tan  rule  over  distant  colonies.  The  insolence  to  the  natives, 
of  the  young  men  sent  out  to  govern  Hindostan,  is  said  to 
have  been  an  active  cause  of  the  revolt,  which  has  but  just 
been  suppressed  at  such  hideous  sacrifice  of  treasure  and  life. 
15* 


346  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

Washington's  taste,  as  I  have  said,  was  for  the  army  ;  he 
inherited  and  early  manifested  a  fondness  for  military  life. 
He  had,  in  an  eminent  degree,  the  spirit  of  subordination  and 
command,  the  physical  and  moral  courage,  the  energy,  the 
system,  the  resource,  the  fortitude  that  never  fainted,  the 
wariness  never  surprised,  and,  above  all,  the  ascendency  over 
his  associates,  which  make  the  consummate  chief.  That  he 
gained  few  brilliant  victories  proves  nothing  to  the  contrary 
till  it  can  be  shown  that,  with  the  materials  at  his  command, 
and  with  the  odds  to  which  he  was  opposed,  it  was  possible 
to  gain  them.  The  common  sense  of  mankind  is  a  far 
sounder  judge  in  this  respect  than  the  astute  strategist.  The 
chieftain,  whose  reputation  rises  in  the  midst  of  disasters,  like 
Washington's  in  his  youth,  after  the  calamitous  campaigns  of 
1754  and  1755,  and  who  retains  the  confidence  of  a  bleeding 
country,  through  years  of  exhaustion  and  despondency,  may 
well  afford  to  dispense  with  the  glory  which  accrues  from 
fortunate  encounters.  The  entire  series  of  Napoleon's  vic 
tories  does  not  reflect  greater  credit  upon  his  skill  as  a 
commander,  than  the  retreat  from  Moscow,  which  completed 
the  loss  of  the  largest  and  finest  army  which  had  ever  been 
mustered  in  Europe. 

With  this  hereditary  aptitude  for  military  service,  Wash 
ington  embraced  with  eagerness  every  opening  for  its  pursuit, 
which  Colonial  life  afforded ;  but  this  could  only  raise  him  to 
the  humbler  posts.  He  accepted,  and  that  before  he  was  of 
age,  every  opportunity  of  service  within  the  gift  of  the  Colo 
nial  government  of  Virginia ;  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-one 
undertook  a  most  dangerous  mission  in  the  winter,  which,  as 
he  truly  says  himself,  no  other  person  could  be  found  to 
accept,  and  which  at  the  most  imminent  peril  of  his  life, 
could,  if  it  succeeded,  gain  him  little  but  the  credit  of  a 
faithful  messenger.  It  so  happened,  that  in  performing  the 
humble  errand,  he  had  the  opportunity  of  displaying  high 
military  qualities.  His  modest  diary  showed  a  young  man 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  34:7 

of  the  brightest  promise.  It  was  published  in  London ;  the 
growing  interest  attached  to  the  movements  of  the  French  on 
the  banks  of  the  Ohio  gave  an  unexpected  importance  to  the 
mission  and  to  its  narrative  ;  and  it  would  undoubtedly  have 
made  the  professional  fortune  of  any  youthful  officer  in  the 
royal  army.  It  did  not  earn  a  compliment  for  the  Virginia 
Major.  His  prudence  and  fortitude,  early  ripe,  won  for  him 
the  following  year,  notwithstanding  its  disasters,  the  un 
bounded  confidence  of  the  Colonial  government,  but  they 
attracted  no  notice  "  at  home."  Braddock  came,  the  most 
self-sufficient  of  men,  and  gave  his  undivided  confidence  to 
Washington ;  a  confidence  well  repaid  on  the  terrible  ninth 
of  July.  It  is  evident  that  the  unfortunate  general  had  per 
ceived  the  claims  of  such  a  man  to  promotion,  on  the  score  of 
policy,  if  not  of  justice.  Governor  Dinwiddie,  in  a  letter  to 
the  minister,  spoke  of  him  as  "  a  man  of  great  merit  and 
resolution,"  and  added,  "  I  am  confident  that  if  General  Brad- 
dock  had  survived,  he  would  have  recommended  him  to  the 
royal  favor,  which  I  beg  your  interest  in  recommending." 
But  the  only  notice  earned  by  his  bravery  and  conduct  on 
that  fatal  day,  \vas  a  good-natured  rebuke  from  George  II. 
and  an  ill-natured  sneer  from  Horace  Walpole. — For  three 
succeeding  years  of  fruitless  application  to  Lord  Loudon  and 
his  successor,  he  endeavored  to  obtain  a  royal  commission. 
They  asked  his  advice,  followed  his  counsels,  or  lived  or  died 
to  lament  their  rejection  of  it ; — applied  to  him, — a  provincial 
colonel, — for  plans  of  march  and  of  battle ;  yielded  to  him 
the  post  of  danger  when  responsibility  was  to  be  assumed  or 
peril  braved ;  and  left  him,  where  they  found  him,  in  the 
Colonial  service.  Perceiving  that  all  hopes  of  promotion  in 
the  British  army  were  vain,  and  satisfied  with  the  attainment 
of  the  great  object  of  the  war  in  the  middle  colonies,  by  the 
capture  of  Fort  Duquesne  and  the  expulsion  of  the  French 
from  the  Ohio,  he  retired  from  the  field,  after  five  years  of 
arduous  and  faithful  service ;  the  youthful  idol  of  his  country- 


34:8  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEES. 

men,  but  without  so  much  as  a  civil  word  from  the  fountain 
of  honor.  And  so,  when,  after  seventeen  years  of  private 
life,  he  next  appeared  in  arms,  it  was  as  the  "  Commander  in 
chief  of  the  army  of  the  United  Colonies,  and  of  all  the  forces 
now  raised,  or  to  be  raised,  by  them."  Such  was  the  policy 
by  which  the  Horse  Guards  occasionally  saved  a  major's 
commission  for  a  fourth  son  of  a  Duke ;  by  which  the  Crown 
lost  a  Continent ;  and  the  people  of  the  United  States  gained 
a  place  in  the  family  of  nations  !  The  voice  of  history  cries 
aloud  to  powerful  governments,  in  the  administration  of  their 
colonies,  "  Discite  justitiam  moniti."* 

I  have  thus  mentioned  six  occasions  in  the  early  life  of 
Washington,  of  great  personal  danger,  or  on  which  his  entire 
future  career  seemed  to  be  suspended  on  a  very  narrow 
chance  of  events,  which  would  have  given  it  a  totally  different 
complexion.  A  few  years  elapse,  and  he  is  brought  to  the 
all-important  position  for  which,  through  all  these  perils  and 
by  all  these  preparations,  he  had  been  trained  by  Providence. 
It  would  be  a  highly  instructive  and  not  a  difficult  task  to 
point  out  the  parallelism  of  the  two  wars,  and  to  show  in 
specific  instances,  how  the  one  served  as  a  school  of  prepara 
tion  for  the  other.  This  would  be  aside  from  my  present 
purpose,  and  I  close  the  list  of  the  imminent  dangers  to 
which  the  life  of  Washington  was  at  different  times  exposed, 
by  one  which,  in  his  own  estimate,  was  greater  than  any 
other. 

The  year  1775  was  taken  up  by  the  organization  of  the 
army  in  Massachusetts ;  a  work,  like  much  which  Washing 
ton  had  to  perform,  of  boundless  importance  and  difficulty, 
but  of  no  falat.  The-  year  1776  opened  with  the  grand  ope 
ration  of  expelling  the  royal  forces  from  Boston,  without  a 
conflict,  which  Washington  however  intended,  if  necessary,  to 
hazard.  This  great  success  was  followed  by  the  unfortunate 
battle  of  Long  Island,  the  loss  of  New  York,  the  retreat 

*  Take  warning,  and  learn  to  be  just. 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  349 

through  New  Jersey.  At  these  great  reverses,  the  confident 
began  to  doubt,  the  disaffected  to  exult,  and  the  timid  to 
despair.  It  was  then  that  Washington  planned  the  surprize 
of  the  three  regiments  of  Hessians  at  Trenton ;  a  veteran 
force,  commanded  by  a  skilful  officer,  and  trained  in  the  best 
military  school  of  Europe. — This  was  not  certainly  an  expe 
dition  which  any  punctilio  of  military  honor  required  the 
Commander-in-Chief  to  lead  in  person ;  it  was  an  affair  of  de 
tachments,  which  might  with  propriety  have  been  left  to 
subordinates.  But  the  crisis  was  too  momentous  for  any 
other  guidance  than  his  own.  On  the  night  of  the  25th  of 
December,  he  threw  his  little  army  of  twenty-four  hundred 
men  and  twenty  small  field-pieces  across  the  Delaware,  then 
running  with  drift  ice,  (thrice  as  wide  as  the  Mincio  in  any 
part  of  its  course,  where  it  flows  between  banks,  from  the 
Lago  di  Garda  to  the  Po,)  under  a  storm  all  the  way  of  snow, 
rain,  and  hail,  and  with  the  weather  so  cold  that  two  of  his 
men  froze  to  death  on  the  march,  and  taking  the  enemy  com 
pletely  by  surprise,  captured  a  thousand  men.  The  inability 
of  the  two  other  detachments  to  cross  the  Delaware  prevented 
a  similar  surprise  of  those  portions  of  the  enemy's  force 
which  escaped  from  Trenton,  or  were  stationed  lower  down. 

Having  recrossed  the  river  with  his  prisoners,  he  speed 
ily  returned  to  New  Jersey  to  follow  up  his  success,  and  dex 
terously  eluding  the  greatly  superior  army  of  Lord  Cornwal- 
lis,  who  had  been  sent  from  New  York  to  check  his  progress, 
and  who  boasted  on  the  evening  of  the  2d  "  that  he  would 
bag  the  fox  in  the  morning,"  Washington  made  a  night  march 
on  Princeton,  and  there  on  the  3d  of  January,  engaged  and 
destroyed  one  regiment,  and  captured  and  put  to  flight  two 
others.  It  was  in  this  engagement,  which  forms  the  subject 
of  Trumbull's  noble  picture,  that  for  a  while  he  was  exposed, 
as  he  himself  told  Colonel  Trumbull  while  painting  it,  to 
greater  danger  of  his  life  than  even  at  Braddock's  defeat.  In 
the  heat  of  the  action,  the  hostile  forces  were  for  a  short  time 


350          THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

in  close  conflict,  and  he  between  them,  within  the  rear  range 
of  the  fire  of  both. 

"His  Aid  de-Camp,  Colonel  Fitzgerald,"  says  Mr.  Irving,  "  a  young 
and  ardent  Irishman,  losing  sight  of  him  in  the  heat  of  the  fight,  -when 
enveloped  in  dust  and  smoke,  dropped  the  bridle  on  the  neck  of  his 
horse  and  drew  his  hat  over  his  eyes,  giving  him  up  for  lost.  When  he 
saw  him,  however,  emerging  from  the  cloud,  waving  his  hat,  and  beheld 
the  enemy  giving  way,  he  spurred  up  to  his  side.  '  Thank  God,'  cried  he, 
'your  Excellency  is  safe.'  'Away,  my  dear  Colonel,  and  bring  up  the 
troops,'  was  Washington's  reply,  'the  day  is  our  own! ' " 

The  action  was  unusually  bloody ;  of  the  enemy  a  hun 
dred  were  killed,  three  hundred  wounded,  and  large  numbers 
taken  prisoners.  The  gallant  Mercer  and  other  brave  officers 
fell  on  the  American  side,  but  Washington  escaped  unhurt ! 

Colonel  Trumbull  represents  him  as  standing  by  his 
favorite  white  charger  on  that  momentous  day.  As  the 
march  from  the  bank  of  the  Assanpink,  the  action,  and  the 
pursuit,  lasted  thirty-six  hours,  during  which  he  scarcely  left 
the  saddle,  there  is  no  doubt  that  Washington  must  have 
ridden  two  or  three  horses  in  the  course  of  the  day.  I  have 
been  informed,  however,  at  second  hand,  from  one  who  was 
in  his  body  guard,  that  when  the  seventeenth  British  regiment 
broke,  General  Washington,  then  mounted  on  a  favorite  roan 
hunter,  leaped  the  stone  wall  that  crossed  the  eminence,  and 
perceiving  the  enemy  in  full  retreat,  gave  the  view  halloo, 
and,  in  unconscious  response  to  the  boast  of  Lord  Cornwallis 
the  night  before,  exclaimed  to  the  officers  about  him,  "  It  is 
a  regular  fox  chase  !  " 

Well  might  he  exult  in  the  event  of  the  day,  for  it  was 
the  last  of  a  series  of  bold  and  skilful  manoeuvres  and  suc 
cessful  actions,  by  wrhich,  in  three  weeks,  he  had  rescued 
Philadelphia,  driven  the  enemy  from  the  banks  of  the  Dela 
ware,  recovered  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  and,  at  the  close  of 
a  disastrous  campaign,  restored  hope  and  confidence  to  the 
country  "  achievements  so  astonishing,"  says  the  Italian  his- 


THE  MOUNT  VEKSTON  PAPERS.  351 

torian  Botta,*  "  gained  for  the  American  Commander  a  very- 
great  reputation,  and  were  regarded  with  wonder  by  all 
nations,  as  well  as  by  the  Americans.  Every  one  applauded 
the  prudence,  the  firmness,  and  the  daring  of  General  Wash 
ington.  All  declared  him  the  Saviour  of  his  country ;  all 
proclaimed  him  equal  to  the  most  renowned  commanders  of 
antiquity,  and  especially  distinguished  him  by  the  name  of  the 
AMERICAN  FABIUS." 

*  Cited  ty-  Mr,  Sparks,  Yol,  I.,  p.  234, 


NUMBER  THIRTY-NINE. 

FONTAINEBLEAU,  BURGUNDY,  AUTUN,  TALLEYRAND. 

Leave  Paris  en  route  for  Italy — Passports— Couriers — Fontainebleau  and  its  histori 
cal  recollections — Appearance  of  a  wine-growing  region — The  Cote  (Tor — Autun, 
its  antiquity  and  architectural  remains — Epigram  about  the  two  Bishops  of  Au 
tun — Character  of  Talleyrand — His  emigration  to  America,  and  intention  to  be 
come  a  citizen  of  the  United  States — Anecdote  of  Benedict  Arnold — Talleyrand's 
course  in  this  country — His  friendship  for  General  Hamilton — Curious  anecdote 
of  Aaron  Burr,  related  by  Talleyrand— Miniature  of  General  Hamilton — Talley 
rand's  character  as  a  statesman— The  Duke  of  Magenta  born  at  Autun— Another 
anecdote  of  Benedict  Arnold. 

ON  the  3d  of  September,  1818,  after  the  then  usual 
amount  of  delay  and  extortion,  in  procuring  the  requisite 
countersign  to  our  passports  at  the  foreign  office  and  four  or 
five  legations,  and  the  usual  annoyance  of  finding,  at  the  last, 
that  several  things  had  been  neglected  that  ought  to  have 
been  attended  to,  I  started  with  my  companion  for  Italy, 
intending,  however,  to  make  a  hasty  circuit  in  Switzerland  by 
the  way.  There  are  few  things,  not  less  serious  in  them 
selves  which  more  annoy  American  travellers  in  Europe, 
than  the  regulations  about  passports,  which  are  in  truth  at 
times  a  source  of  unreasonable  delay  and  vexation.  The 
passport  system,  however,  serves  one  valuable  purpose,  of 
which  Americans,  when  occasion  requires,  derive  the  full 
benefit ;  but  of  the  importance  of  which  we  are  not  duly 
sensible ;  and  that  is  the  aid  which  it  affords  to  the  pursuit 
and  arrest  of  criminals  fleeing  from  justice.  It  happened  to 
me  several  times,  in  the  course  of  official  duty  abroad,  to 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  353 

have  occasion  to  render  aid  to  the  parties  interested  who  had 
come  from  the  United  States,  in  pursuit  of  embezzlers  and 
other  offenders  fleeing  from  America.  In  all  these  cases,  the 
necessity  of  having  the  passport  countersigned  in  every  new 
jurisdiction  furnished  important  assistance  in  tracing  and  de 
taining  the  fugitive.  In  a  region  like  the  European  Conti 
nent,  divided  among  numerous  Governments,  wholly  indepen 
dent  of  each  other,  it  will  be  readily  seen,  that  the  means  of 
escape  to  a  foreign  territory  must  be  much  greater  than  in 
the  United  States,  where  so  vast  a  territory  is  comprehended 
in  one  federal  jurisdiction.  Of  course,  however,  the  passport 
system  is  subject  to  great  abuses  for  political  purposes. 
Some  of  those  have  been  brought  upon  bond  fide  American 
travellers,  by  the  officials  of  the  United  States,  who  have  in 
some  cases  undertaken  to  give  American  passports,  (which 
are  in  terms  certificates  of  citizenship,)  to  persons  not  entitled 
to  them,  either  by  birth  or  naturalization.  This  abuse  has 
diminished  the  unhesitating  respect  which  in  former  times 
was  paid  to  the  starry  vignette. 

Our  travelling  party  consisted  only  of  our  two  selves  and 
a  courier,  one  of  those  extraordinary  persons,  whose  services 
every  American  travelling  in  Europe  has  found  so  important; 
— an  attendant  who  knows  a  little, — sometimes  a  good  deal, 
— of  four  or  five  languages  ;  is  conversant  with  the  manners 
and  customs  of  all  countries ;  familiar  with  all  routes  in  all 
directions ; — acquainted,  probably  to  some  extent  in  league, 
— with  landlords  in  all  the  towns  wrhere  you  are  to  stop. 
Our  courier  was  a  Neapolitan,  who  had  conducted  many 
Americans  through  Europe,  and  who  was  attached  to  an 
officer  of  the  French  army,  in  the  terrible  retreat  from  Mos 
cow.  On  that  dreadful  flight,  he  resolutely  maintained, 
though  a  man  of  veracity  for  his  calling,  that  he  rarely  drew 
off  his  master's  boots  at  night  without  bringing  away  one  of 
the  extremities  of  the  feet  which  they  covered.  I  retain  a 
most  kindly  recollection  of  Francisco,  whose  fidelity  was 


354  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

beyond  suspicion,  and  who  was  one  of  the  most  indulgent 
persons  to  his  employer  that  I  ever  knew.  He  would  fre 
quently  let  us  have  our  own  way.  He  amassed  a  handsome 
fortune  in  his  vocation,  and  I  renewed  my  acquaintance  with 
him,  after  an  interval  of  twenty-three  years,  at  Naples,  where 
he  was  living  in  1841  as  a  respectable  property  holder. 

There  is  something  at  almost  every  step  of  the  way  from 
Paris  to  Switzerland  (as  indeed  there  is  in  every  part  of 
Europe)  to  engage  and  reward  the  attention  of  the  traveller ; 
— the  memory  of  some  great  battle,  from  the  time  of  Julius 
Caesar  to  that  of  Napoleon ;  some  noble  mediaeval  pile,  or 
still  more  impressive  architectural  ruin ;  some  venerable 
monastic  establishment ;  the  birth-place  of  some  great  man  ; 
some  delightful  landscape ;  some  important  institution ;  but 
all  these  objects  have  become  too  familiar  from  the  guide 
books  and  the  professed  tourists,  to  bear  a  description  from 
the  wayfarer  who  travels  post  through  the  country.  We 
lingered  awhile  at  Pontainebleau,  which  had  not  then  recov 
ered  somewhat  of  its  original  magnificence  under  the  restor 
ing  hand  of  Louis  Philippe.  Its  immense  extent,  dispropor- 
tioned  to  its  height,  its  weather-stained  brick  corridors  and 
faded  splendors,  at  the  time  we  saw  it,  produced  rather  a 
disappointing  effect ;  but  a  little  effort  of  the  imagination 
sufficed  to  people  it  with  the  most  stirring  recollections. 
Louis  the  Seventh,  in  the  twelfth  century,  laid  its  foundations, 
after  his  return  from  the  second  crusade,  while  Thomas  a 
Becket  wras  bidding  defiance  to  Henry  in  England,  and  the 
Northmen  were  creeping  down  from  Greenland  to  the  coasts 
of  Labrador  and  Newfoundland  in  America ;  and  from  "  the 
Court  of  the  White  Horse,"  to  which  Catherine  de  Medici 
gave  its  name,  Napoleon  took  his  affecting  leave  of  the  rem 
nants  of  the  Old  Guard  on  his  departure  for  Elba.  What  a 
range  for  the  imagination  between  those  extremes  !  The  Fac 
Simile  of  Napoleon's  abdication,  the  little  round  table  upon 
which  it  was  written,  and  what  purported  to  be  the  pen  with 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  355 

which  the  sad  words  were  traced,  were  exhibited  in  the  room 
where  the  paper  was  signed ;  but  have  since,  I  believe,  disap 
peared.  Every  intervening  century  and  sovereign,  from  the 
founder  of  the  old  castle  in  the  twelfth  century  to  the  present 
day,  has  left  some  recollection  at  Fontainebleau ; — and  its 
green  moss-grown  courts  and  silent  halls  remind  you  of 
marriages,  murders,  and  abdications ; — recall  the  names,  be 
sides  native  sovereigns,  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  Queen 
Christina,  Pope  Pius  VII. ;  of  Diana  of  Poitiers,  Madame  de 
Maintenon,  and  Henrietta  Maria,  the  wife  of  Charles  I. ;  and 
present  you  with  specimens  of  the  architecture  and  the  arts, 
from  their  infancy  in  the  fourteenth  century  to  their  second 
bloom  in  our  own  day. — The  noble  forest  of  Fontainebleau, 
equal  in  extent  to  two  townhips  of  public  land  in  the  United 
States,  exhibits  no  doubt  a  portion  of  the  original  growth  of 
the  country,  preserved  from  the  time  when,  within  its  dark 
recesses,  the  Druids  burned  their  sacrificial  victims  in  wicker 
cages.  Our  guide,  as  he  approached  "  La  Croix  du  grand 
veneur"  *  where  a  spectral  huntsman  in  black  appeared  to 
Henri  IV.  not  long  before  his  murder,  repeated  the  legend 
with  a  solemn  air  of  belief.  I  had  seen  but  a  few  days  before, 
in  the  museum  at  Paris,  the  dagger  which  the  maniac  Ravail- 
lac,  climbing  up  the  carriage  wheels  of  the  gracious  monarch, 
as  he  drove  slowly  through  the  streets  of  Paris,  plunged  to 
his  heart. 

The  first  entrance  into  a  wine-growing  region,  at  least  in 
France  and  Germany,  disappoints  the  traveller,  who  has 
formed  his  ideas  of  a  vineyard  from  the  descriptions  of  the 
poets.  There  is  nothing  luxuriant  in  its  appearance,  as  it  is 
seen  at  a  moderate  distance  from  the  road-side.  The  vines 
are  pruned  down  to  the  height  of  a  few  feet,  and  planted  in 
straight  rows,  which  do  not  compare  in  richness  and  beauty 
to  a  field  of  Indian  Corn  in  the  tassel,  undoubtedly  the  most 

*  "  The  Cross  of  the  great  Huntsman,"  an  obelisk  at  the  intersection  of  two  main 
roads  through  the  forest. 


356  THE   MOUNT   VEEKXXN"    PAPEKS. 

graceful  and  pompous  robe  in  which  bountiful  nature  arrays 
herself  this  side  of  the  tropics.  Seen,  however,  sufficiently  near 
to  disclose  its  opening  clusters,  purple  or  yellow,  bursting  or 
ready  to  burst  with  their  nectarous  juice,  the  aspect  of  a  vine 
yard  realizes  the  warmest  images  of  Anacreon  or  Hafiz.  We 
were  about  five  weeks  before  the  vintage  was  to  commence,  but 
the  golden  slopes  of  the  Cote  d'or,  as  we  passed  them,  were 
clothed  with  its  promise. — The  Saone  W'Ound  through  the 
meadows  on  the  left,  and  on  the  right  vineyard  above  vine 
yard,  and  terrace  above  terrace,  covered  with  plants  bending 
beneath  their  melting  clusters,  rose  to  the  very  summit  of  the 
hills.  It  is  on  these  hillsides  alone,  that  the  richest  grapes 
can  be  matured,  for  it  is  necessary  to  combine  protection 
from  the  winds  of  the  north  (that  dreadful  bise  at  which  the 
readers  of  Madame  de  Sevigne  have  shivered  for  two  cen 
turies,  whether  they  have  felt  it  or  not,  which,  though  fully 
developed  only  in  the  south  of  France,  begins  in  Burgundy 
to  assume  its  character,  and,  under  a  cloudless  sky  and  bril 
liant  sun,  sweeps  over  the  earth  day  after  day,  with  a  dry, 
steady,  withering  chill,)  with  a  degree  of  heat  which  can  only 
be  had  in  an  exposure  to  the  sun,  under  an  angle  of  from 
thirty  to  sixty  degrees.  The  promise  of  the  vintage  this  year 
(1818)  exceeded  that  of  any  season  since  the  famous  Comet 
year  of  1811,  and  wherever  we  entered  into  conversation 
on  the  road  we  heard  the  language  of  joy  and  confidence. 

On  our  way  to  Lyons,  we  passed  through  Autun,  but  saw 
it  to  some  disadvantage,  at  least  as  far  as  comfort  and  ac 
commodation  are  concerned,  in  consequence  of  the  crowd  and 
confusion  incident  to  the  great  September  fair.  Few  places 
exceed  it  in  historical  interest.  It  was  an  important  city  of 
the  ancient  Gauls,  before  the  invasion  of  Julius  Caesar,  at 
least  if,  as  antiquaries  suppose,  it  was  the  Bibracte  of  the 
jEdui.  The  name  of  Autun  is  abbreviated  from  that  (Augus- 
todunum)  by  which  the  Romans  indicated  its  importance. 
For  nearly  two  centuries  after  it  was  honored  with  this  appel- 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  357 

lation,  it  was  a  seat  of  refinement  and  art,  to  which  the  young 
men  of  Gaul  were  sent  for  their  education.  Considerable 
masses  of  the  Roman  walls  still  exist,  showing  the  extent  of 
the  ancient  city  ;  and  architectural  remains  of  a  highly  inter 
esting  character,  though  not  of  the  purest  age  of  art, — espe 
cially  two  Roman  gates, — attract  the  notice  of  the  traveller. 
Some  portions  of  the  Cathedral,  particularly  the  spire,  are 
also  greatly  admired  by  the  student  of  mediaeval  architecture. 
The  Cathedral  of  Autun  reminds  one  by  natural  associa 
tion  of  its  prelates.  Two  of  them  have  obtained,  in  very 
different  ways,  what  may  be  called  a  classical  celebrity, 
recorded  in  the  following  epigram  : 

ROQUETTE,  dans  son  terns, 

TALLEYRAND,  dans  le  notre, 
Furent  eveques  d' Autun ; — 

Tartuffe  fut  le  surnom  d'un, 
Ah  !  si  Moliere  cut  connu  1'autre  ! 

which  may  be  poorly  translated  as  follows  : — 

Two  bishops  have  adorned  Autun, 

Roquette  and  this  his  modern  brother ; — 

Tartuffe  preserves  the  name  of  one, 
Oh !  had  Moliere  but  known  the  other ! 

It  may  seem  the  height  of  romance  for  an  American  even 
to  say  a  civil  word  in  favor  of  the  last  named  of  these  cele 
brated  bishops  of  Autun,  but  the  French  Revolution  brought 
a  good  many  men  into  power  much  worse  than  M.  do  Talley 
rand.  He  belonged  to  the  most  ancient  noblesse  of  France ; 
but  having,  in  consequence  of  his  lameness,  been  placed  in  the 
Church,  he  early,  like  Lafayette,  Mirabeau,  and  many  others 
of  the  French  aristocracy  felt,  as  Louis  XV.  had  felt  and  said 
before  them,  that  the  old  French  Monarchy  could  last  no 
longer ;  that  it  was  rotten  at  heart.  He  therefore  adopted 
the  revolution,  but  fled  disgusted  and  horror-struck  from  its 
bloody  excesses.  He  came  to  this  country,  and  took  the 


358  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

preliminary  steps  to  become  a  citizen  of  the  United  States. 
I  saw  in  Peale's  museum,  many  years  ago,  the  official  notice 
of  this  intention,  signed  by  himself,  and  it  afterwards  passed 
into  the  possession  of  the  late  Mr.  Edward  D.  Ingraham,  of 
Philadelphia. 

M.  de  Talleyrand,  having  been  ordered  by  the  British 
government,  (under  the  influence  of  the  panic  with  reference 
to  everything  French  which  had  seized  them,)  to  leave  Eng 
land,  took  passage  for  the  United  States  at  Plymouth,  where 
he  happened  to  find  himself  in  the  same  inn  with  Benedict 
Arnold.  Not  being  particularly  acquainted  with  the  relations 
in  which  this  wretched  man  might  still  stand  with  America, 
Talleyrand  offered  to  take  letters  for  him  to  the  United 
States.  This  civility  Arnold  declined,  saying,  "  I  am  the 
only  man  in  the  world  that  does  not  dare  write  to  his  native 
country."  The  little  volume  of  "  Recollections "  of  Mr. 
Rogers,  lately  published,  contains  a  most  remarkable  counter 
part  to  this  anecdote,  given  on  the  authority  of  the  Duke  of 
Wellington.  "  When  Lord  Londonderry  attacked  Talley 
rand  in  Parliament  and  I  defended  him,  saying,  in  everything 
as  far  as  I  had  observed,  he  had  always  been  fair  and  honest, 
Talleyrand  burst  into  tears,  saying,  *  He  is  the  only  man  that 
ever  said  anything  good  of  me  ! ' ' 

Arrived  in  the  United  States,  M.  de  Talleyrand  was  far 
from  imitating  the  unwise  conduct  of  his  countrymen  in 
America,  who  threw  themselves  into  the  political  controver 
sies  of  this  country,  and  allowed  themselves  to  be  made  use 
of,  to  embarrass  the  administration  of  General  Washington. 
He  of  course  entered  into  no  personal  relations  with  the  Pres 
ident,  but  he  formed  an  intimate  acquaintance  and  contracted 
a  warm  friendship  with  General  Hamilton,  whom  he  consid 
ered,  and  in  after  life  often  spoke  of,  as  the  most  sagacious 
and  best  informed  of  American  Statesmen,  especially  in  ref 
erence  to  European  politics.  He  carried  with  him,  on  his 
return  to  France,  a  miniature  of  General  Hamilton,  painted 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEKS.  359 

at  his  request.  When  Aaron  Burr  was  in  Paris,  and  re 
quested  an  interview  with  M.  de  Talleyrand,  then  Minister  of 
Foreign  Affairs,  the  latter  added  this  clause  to  the  cold  official 
note  appointing  a  time  for  the  reception  :  "  The  Minister  for 
[Foreign  Affairs  thinks  proper  to  inform  Mr.  Burr,  that  a 
portrait  of  General  Hamilton  is  hanging  in  his  office ; "  an 
intimation  which  of  course  prevented  the  visit.  This  minia 
ture,  or  a  copy  of  it,  with  a  little  receptacle  on  the  back  con 
taining  obituary  notices  of  General  Hamilton,  cut  from  the 
American  newspapers,  was  after  his  decease  sent  by  M.  de 
Talleyrand  to  the  family  in  the  United  States.  The  curious 
anecdote  just  given  was  related  by  M.  de  Talleyrand  himself 
to  the  son  and  grandson  of  General  Hamilton,  on  a  visit  made 
by  invitation  to  Vallencjay,  a  few  years  before  his  death,  on 
which  occasion  his  distinguished  attentions  showed  the  honor 
in  which  he  held  the  memory  of  their  illustrious  and  lamented 
relative. 

In  reference  to  the  political  course  of  M.  de  Talleyrand  as 
a  French  Statesman,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  he  was  a  politi 
cian  of  the  same  school  with  the  celebrated  Austrian  Minister, 
whose  character  formed  the  subject  of  the  thirty-fifth  paper  of 
this  series.  But  still  more  than  Metternich,  he  is  entitled  to 
the  credit  of  having  studied,  sometimes  no  doubt  from  a  false 
point  of  view,  the  interests  of  the  country  of  which  he  was  a 
citizen,  and  of  the  government  which  he  served.  To  this  he 
sacrificed  the  favor  of  his  all-powerful  master,  whose  Spanish 
policy, — the  great  and  fatal  error  of  his  reign, — was  adopted 
and  pursued  in  direct  opposition  to  the  counsels  of  M.  de  Tal 
leyrand. 

Before  leaving  Autun,  it  may  be  remarked  that  it  is  the 
birth-place  of  General  M'Mahon,  who  was  created  a  marshal 
of  France  by  Louis  Napoleon,  on  the  battle-field  of  Magenta, 
for  having  "  saved  the  army."  As  the  name  indicates,  his 
family  is  of  Irish  extraction,  and  is  one  of  those  which,  with 


360  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEES. 

self-sacrificing  chivalry,  followed  the  fortunes  of  James  II. 
The  new-made  duke  of  Magenta  was  born  at  Autun,  in  1807. 
Having  mentioned  Benedict  Arnold  in  the  foregoing 
paper,  I  cannot  refrain  from  repeating  another  anecdote  of 
him,  related  by  Mr.  Sabine,  which  throws  a  dismal  light  on 
the  repute  in  which  he  was  held  in  a  community  where  it 
might  have  been  expected,  if  anywhere,  that  he  would  have 
been  kindly  viewed.  After  the  revolutionary  war,  he  estab 
lished  himself  in  some  sort  of  business  at  St.  John's,  New 
Brunswick,  which  was  principally  settled  by  American  loy 
alists.  His  warehouse  and  the  merchandize  in  it,  being  fully 
insured,  were  destroyed  by  fire,  and  Arnold  was  charged  in  a 
newspaper  with  having  himself  set  fire  to  the  building,  in 
order  to  get  the  insurance,  which  was  largely  beyond  the 
value  of  the  property.  He  prosecuted  the  publisher  of  the 
paper  for  a  libel,  laid  the  damages  at  thousands,  and  recov 
ered,  by  the  verdict  of  the  jury,  two  and  six  pence !  Such 
was  the  estimate  formed  by  a  St.  John's  jury  of  his  probity. 


NUMBER  FORTY. 

LYONS. 

Hotel  do  TEurope  at  Lyons—  The  hill  of  Fourvieres—  Description  of  the  Panorama 
seen  from  its  top—  Distant  view  of  Mont  Blanc—  Pilgrimages  to  the  shrine  of  our 
Lady  of  Fourvieres—  Besort  of  beggars  and  almsgiving  on  the  part  of  the  Pil 
grims—Anecdote  of  a  professed  Scottish  beggar—  The  bronze  tablets  containing  the 
speech  of  the  Emperor  Cladius  —  Martyrdom  of  Saint  Irenreus  and  Blandina  —  The 
Persecutions  of  the  early  Christians  as  recorded  in  ecclesiastical  history  com 
pared  with  the  cruelties  practised  at  Lyons  in  the  French  revolution.  —  Whole 
sale  massacre  in  the  Brotteaux  —  Escape  and  career  of  Jacquard,  the  inventor  of 
the  celebrated  loom  that  bears  his  name  —  saying  of  Napoleon  I.  about  him  —  His 
epitaph. 


passed  a  few  days  at  Lyons,  a  city  which  I  have,  in 
the  course  of  my  wanderings,  visited  three  times,  and  ever 
with  imdiminished  satisfaction.  To  begin  with  our  lodgings, 
there  is  a  gloomy  grandeur  about  the  Hotel  de  TEurope, 
which  I  do  not  dislike  in  an  old  European  city.  It  resembles 
a  princely  palace,  and  in  fact  probably  was  one.  Its  rooms 
are  of  vast  height  ;  the  ceilings  painted,  and  that  not  contempt 
ibly,  in  fresco  ;  the  walls  hung  with  old  family  portraits  of 
Louis  Quatorze  and  the  Regency  ;  the  floors  tiled  or  inlaid 
with  woods  once  bright  and  particolored  ;  the  chimneys  of 
colossal  length,  depth,  and  height  ;  everything,  in  a  word,  on 
a  grand  scale,  not  excepting,  I  must  own,  the  dirt,  —  which 
one  must  take  in  these  old  continental  hotels,  together  with 
the  grandeurs.  In  the  fare  there  was  nothing  to  complain  of; 
nor  in  1818  in  the  bill.  All  this  may  have  changed  since  I 
was  last  there  in  1841. 

This  first  visit  to  Lyons  was  made  before  the  halcyon 
16 


362  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

days  of  Murray.  That  trusty  guide,  after  giving  with  some 
minuteness,  a  local  description  of  the  city,  says  with  italicized 
emphasis,  "  these  dry  topographical  details  will  be  best  un 
derstood  when  the  traveller  has  scaled  the  height  of  Fourvi- 
eres,  which  he  should  do  the  first  thing  after  his  arrival,  on 
account  of  the  view  it  commands."  Whether  at  the  instiga 
tion  of  some  older  Murray  or  some  discreet  valet  de  place,  or 
led  by  our  own  sagacity,  I  do  not  recollect, — but  our  first 
care  was  to  ascend  the  hill  of  Fourvieres,  which  we  could  per 
ceive  from  below  must  command  a  glorious  panorama  of 
Lyons  and  its  environs.  The  approach  would  seem  artisti 
cally  contrived  to  heighten,  by  contrast,  the  magnificence  of 
the  prospect.  It  is  in  the  rear  of  an  extensive  but  confused 
pile  of  building,  now  occupied  as  an  asylum  for  the  insane, 
and  a  hospital  for  incurables  of  the  most  wretched  descrip 
tion,  who  are  attended,  however,  with  exemplary  self-sacrifice, 
by  the  brothers  and  sisters  of  charity.  This  sad  retreat  of 
suffering  humanity,  (such  are  the  vicissitudes  of  human  for 
tune  in  men  and  things,)  occupies  the  site  of  a  palace,  in 
which,  some  seventeen  centuries  ago,  two  Roman  Emperors, 
Claudius  and  Caracalla  were  born  !  After  emerging  from  this 
locality  you  begin  to  ascend  the  hill  through  steep  and  narrow 
lanes,  sometimes  by  steps  apparently  cut  in  the  native  rock, 
winding  through  vineyards,  and  olive  gardens,  and  groves  of 
fig  trees, — (such  at  least  was  the  case  forty  years  ago,)  and 
you  reach  at  last  the  summit  called  Fourvieres,  which  is  sup 
posed  by  the  antiquaries  at  Lyons,  to  be  the  modern  French 
form  of  the  Latin  Forum  vctus,  "  ancient  Forum."  The 
scene  is  certainly  one  of  transcendent  natural  beauty  as  well 
as  uncommon  historical  interest.  It  cannot  have  escaped  the 
professed  tourists  ;  but  I  do  not  remember  to  have  seen  it 
particularly  described. 

Through  the  defiles  of  Mount  Cindre  on  the  north,  you 
catch  a  glimpse, — it  is  but  a  glimpse, — of  the  golden  slopes 
of  Burgundy.  The  lofty  and  serrated  ridges  of  Auvergne, 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PA  PEES.  363 

•within  whoso  secret*  laboratories,  heated  by  concealed  vol 
canoes,  nature  distils  some  of  her  most  salubrious  mineral 
waters,  bound  the  prospect  on  the  west.  The  misty  hills 
and  genial  valleys  of  Dauphiny  and  Languedoc  stretch  far 
away  to  the  south  in  dreamy  luxuriance.  On  the  east  comes 
in  the  headlong  turbid  Rhone,  swelled  by  the  tributary  floods 
of  the  Lake  of  Geneva,  of  the  Arve,  and  of  the  Arveiron ;  and 
through  them,  sharing  with  the  Rhine,  the  Danube,  and  the 
Po,  the  waters  that  trickle  from  hundreds  of  Alpine  Glaciers. 
You  follow  the  line  of  the  Jura  with  some  distinctness  on  the 
north-east,  and  further  in  the  east,  especially  with  the  aid  of  a 
glass,  the  eye,  glancing  from  the  Schrcckhorn,  the  Finster 
Aar  Horn,  and  the  Jungfrau,  unclimbed  by  the  foot  of  man 
till  it  was  ascended  by  our  own  Agassiz,  rests  at  length,  at 
the  distance  of  a  hundred  miles,  on  imperial  Mont  Blanc  it 
self,  visible  in  a  clear  day  even  to  the  naked  eye.  There  you 
behold  it  swelling  grandly  to  the  sky,  laden  with  the  piled 
storms  of  untold  centuries ;  bright  as  the  ocean  of  sunshine 
that  bathes  its  cold,  unmelting  sides ;  pure  as  the  deep  blue 
Heavens,  which  canopy  its  vestal  snows ;  mysterious  as  the 
conscious  stars  which  look  down  at  midnight  into  its  fathom 
less  chasms ;  a  vast  eternal  mountain  of  glittering  crystal, — 
indescribable  monument  of  Creative  Power  ! 

When  you  turn  at  length  from  this  all-glorious  panorama 
and  look  down  upon  the  confluence  of  the  Saone  and  Rhone 
at  your  feet,  the  recollections  of  nearly  three  thousand  years 
crowd  upon  the  mind.  Here  in  the  remotest  antiquity  sixty 
Gallic  nations  assembled  to  celebrate  the  annual  sacrifices  of 
the  primitive  Celtic  race.  What  interests,  what  policies, 
what  controversies,  agitated  at  these  gatherings,  lie  buried  in 
the  grave  of  ages  !  This  was  the  focal  point,  from  which  the 
power  and  the  policy  of  Rome,  overleaping  the  Alps,  radiated 
to  the  west  and  north,  and,  turning  the  flank  of  the  eternal 
Alps,  rushed  north-eastwardly  upon  Germany.  Here  the 
great  Dictator  paused  to  meditate,  as  from  some  lofty  watch- 


364:  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

tower,  with  dilating  thought,  on  the  mighty  career  of  conquest 
which  was  opening  before  him  in  Gallia,  in  Brittania,  in  Ger- 
mania,  and  which  is  still  felt  in  the  language,  the  laws,  the  na 
tional  divisions  of  modern  Europe.  This  was  the  central 
station  from  which  Marcus  Vipsanius  Agrippa  laid  out  the 
four  great  roads,  pathways  of  empire,  which  traversed  and 
tamed  impatient  Gaul.  Here  the  subjugated  races  erected  a 
temple  to  Agrippa's  patron  and  father-in-law,  the  Emperor 
Augustus.  Four  columns  of  Egyptian  granite,  stolen  per 
haps  originally  from  Memphis  or  Egyptian  Thebes  to  support 
the  canopy  of  the  altar  dedicated  to  Augustus,  now  sustain 
the  cross  of  the  Abbey  Church  of  Ainay,  beneath  whose  pave 
ment  rest  the  ashes  of  some  of  the  earliest  martyrs  of  the 
Christian  faith.  In  the  same  quarter  Caligula  established  his 
Athenceinn,  and  instituted  his  prize  declamations ;  crowning 
the  successful  competitor  with  honors  and  rewards ;  chastiz 
ing  the  unsuccessful,  and  compelling  them  to  wipe  their  ora 
tions  from  their  tablets  with  their  tongues.  Happily  for 
modern  orators,  this  operation  is  now  left  to  the  impartial 
hand  of  time.  Here,  in  fine,  the  liberal  Trajan  erected  a 
splendid  edifice  for  the  markets,  the  fairs,  and  the  courts. 

These  monuments  of  ancient  power  and  altars  of  ancient 
worship  have  passed  away  ;  mutilated  statues,  fragmentary 
inscriptions  transferred  to  the  museum,  and  doubtful  sub 
structions  buried  deep  beneath  the  modern  level  of  the  soil, 
are  all  that  attest  their  former  existence.  The  Church  of  our 
Lady  of  Fourvieres,  surmounted  by  a  colossal  figure  of  the 
Virgin  in  gilded  bronze,  looks  down  from  the  summit  of  the 
hill  upon  the  scene  and  the  ruins  of  all  this  ancient  magnifi 
cence.  The  popular  faith  ascribes  miraculous  powers  to  the 
consecrated  image  of  the  Virgin  enshrined  within  the  temple  ; 
the  walls  of  which  are  hung  thick  with  ex  voto  memorials  of 
the  dangers  escaped  and  the  cures  performed  by  her  interces 
sion.  The  little  shops,  which  line  the  lower  part  of  the  nar 
row  lane  by  which  you  ascend  the  hill,  contain  articles  of  this 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  365 

kind,  ready  prepared  to  be  purchased  by  the  pilgrims  who 
come  to  pay  their  devotions  and  make  their  acknowledgments 
at  the  shrine. 

We  happened  to  visit  Fourvieres  on  the  day  of  the  great 
annual  resort  for  this  purpose,  when  pilgrims  in  large 
numbers  and  from  considerable  distances  flock  to  the  church. 
These  pilgrimages  are  the  great  harvest  of  the  beggars  of 
Lyons  and  the  whole  neighboring  region,  who,  in  numbers 
quite  equal  to  that  of  the  devotees,  assemble  at  the  same  time 
and  place.  The  two  classes,  contemplated  together,  present  a 
curious  spectacle.  The  pilgrims  moving  in  single  file,  except 
when  some  feeble  brother  or  sister  requires  the  support  of  a 
friendly  arm,  occupy  the  middle  of  the  pathway  up  the  hill. 
The  beggars  line  the  sides,  from  the  bottom  to  the  top  ; 
singly  for  the  most  part,  sometimes  in  families  ;  standing, 
sitting,  lying;  the  maimed,  the  halt,  and  the  blind;  the 
sturdy,  business-like,  and  impudent ;  the  humble,  looking  up 
with  pitiful  deference ;  some  clamorous,  some  trusting  to  the 
mute  eloquence  of  decrepitude  and  mutilation  ;  of  every  age 
and  either  sex  ;  and  suffering  under  every  form  of  real  or 
pretended  distress.  Long  established  usage  sanctions  the 
resort,  on  these  particular  occasions,  and  settles  the  amount 
of  the  expected  bounty  ;  a  Hard,  which  is,  I  believe,  about 
half  a  farthing,  from  every  pilgrim,  sometimes  the  poorer 
personage  of  the  two,  to  every  one  of  the  beggars ;  some  of 
whom  are  said  to  amass  comparatively  large  sums  of  money 
in  the  course  of  years.  So  much  a  matter  of  business  is  it — 
so  little  of  delicacy  or  feeling  is  there  on  either  side  in  this 
conventional  wholesale  almsgiving,  that  we  continually  saw 
the  parties  making  change  with  each  other.  A  sous,  which,  if 
I  mistake  not,  is  worth  three  Hards  in  the  old  French  coinage, 
was  handed  by  the  pilgrim  to  the  beggar.  The  beggar  knew 
that  he  was  to  retain  only  a  part  of  this  magnificent  sum,  and 
returned  two  liards  to  the  pilgrim,  who  wras  thus  furnished 
with  small  change  for  those  who  stood  next. 


366  THE  MOUNT  VEKXON  PAPERS. 

Sir  Walter  Scott,  in  his  description  of  the  professed  beg 
gars  of  his  country,  relates  an  anecdote  of  one  Andrew 
Gammels,  who  belonged  to  that  privileged  class,  which 
discloses  a  charitable  thrift  not  unlike  that  practised  at 
Fourvieres.  Having  asked  alms  of  a  gentleman,  who  re 
gretted  that  he  had  no  silver,  as  in  that  case  he  would  have 
given  Andrew  a  sixpence,  the  well-to-do  beggar  replied,  "  I 
can  gie  ye  change  for  a  note,  Laird." 

What  a  contrast  upon  the  hill  of  Fourvieres  on  occasion  of 
these  pilgrimages,  between  the  charities  of  man  and  the  char 
ities  of  Heaven  !  Man  making  change  with  his  brother  man 
for  half  farthings ;  and  the  dear  GOD  causing  his  rich  big 
clouds  to  rain  down  plenty  on  the  just  and  the  unjust ;  and 
his  noble  rivers  to  flow  from  their  secret  urns  in  the  eternal 
mountains  ;  and  his  health-giving  waters  to  sparkle  from  the 
secret  dispensaries  of  the  earth  ;  and  the  breezy  wings  of  his 
mighty  winds  to  fan  the  languid  pulses  of  creation  into  cheery 
vigor ;  and  his  wine  and  his  oil  to  stream  from  every  hill 
side  ;  and  the  finest  of  his  wheat  to  wave  in  yellow  luxuriance 
over  a  thousand  fields;  and  all  his  imperial  heavens,  from 
their  opening  windows,  to  pour  down  every  day  upon  the 
evil  and  the  good  one  golden,  genial  deluge  of  morning  light ! 

There  are  a  great  many  very  curious  relics  of  antiquity  in 
the  Museum  at  Lyons.  One  of  them,  nearly  if  not  quite 
unique  in  its  way,  consists  of  the  bronze  tablets,  containing  a 
speech  made  by  the  Emperor  Claudius,  in  the  Eoman  Senate, 
while  he  filled  the  office  of  Censor,  in  the  48  of  our  era,  and 
recommending  that  the  inhabitants  of  Transalpine  Gaul  should 
be  admitted  to  the  privileges  of  Roman  Citizenship.  These 
tablets  probably  preserve  the  very  words  of  Claudius,  and 
the  engraving  is  still  perfectly  distinct  and  legible.  Lady 
Mary  Wortley  Montague  was  so  much  struck  with  them,  that 
she  took  the  trouble  to  transcribe  them  in  a  letter  to  Pope, 
written  from  Lyons  ;  probably,  however,  copying  them  from 
some  printed  description,  though  she  does  not  say  so. 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  367 

Lyons  is  celebrated  in  Ecclesiastical  History  as  the  see  of 
Saint  Irenteus,  the  second  Bishop  of  the  diocese,  one  of  the 
most  important  of  the  early  writers  of  the  Church,  who  is  said 
to  have  suffered  martyrdom,  with  eight  thousand  fellow-Chris 
tians,  in  the  reign  of  Severus.  This  Emperor  is  supposed  to 
have  treated  the  Christians  of  Lyons  with  especial  rigor,  in 
consequence  of  some  affront  which  he  had  received  while  liv 
ing  there ;  a  tradition  which  strangely  corresponds  with  the 
anecdote  told  of  Collot  d'Herbois, — that  his  inhuman  cruelties 
toward  the  inhabitants  of  this  devoted  city  in  the  French 
Revolution,  were  in  revenge  for  having  been  hissed  by  them, 
when  he  appeared  in  their  theatre  as  a  fourth-rate  actor.  A 
former  persecution  under  Marcus  Aurelius  is  famous  as  that 
in  which  the  gentle  Blandina,  (a  name  which  has  acquired  a 
happier  and  let  us  hope  a  not  less  permanent  celebrity  in  our 
own  country  and  day,  for  a  noble  act  of  enlightened  liberal 
ity,)*  trod  the  thorny  path  of  martyrdom. 

The  skepticism  of  the  last  century,  under  the  guidance  of 
Gibbon,  was  disposed  to  view  with  distrust  the  accounts 
transmitted  to  us  by  the  Historians  of  the  Church,  of  those 
wholesale  butcheries,  the  famous  ten  Persecutions.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  contend  too  anxiously  for  this  precise  numerical 
arrangement  of  the  sufferings  inflicted  upon  the  confessors  of 
the  new  faith,  under  the  reign  of  the  predecessors  of  Con- 
stantine.  But  historical  monuments  of  undoubted  authen 
ticity  prove  that  the  early  Christians  were  subjected  to  the 
most  cruel  treatment,  and  often  paid  with  their  lives  for  their 
rejection  of  the  religion  of  the  State.  Whatever  doubts  may 
have  existed  as  to  the  wholesale  butcheries  in  question,  as 
transcending  in  the  number  of  their  victims  all  credible 
measures  of  brutal  tyranny,  have  been  but  too  sadly  re 
moved,  by  the  atrocities  practised,  at  this  very  city  of  Lyons, 
after  its  seige  and  capture  by  the  army  of  the  Convention  in 
1793. 

*  The  endowment  of  the  Observatory  at  Albany,  by  Mrs.  Blandina  Dudley. 


368  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  ten  Persecutions  which,  either  for  the 
number  of  the  sufferers  or  the  diabolical  rage  and  malignity 
with  which  they  were  consigned  to  their  fate,  exceeds  the 
records  of  the  revolutionary  tribunals  at  Lyons,  under  Cou- 
thon,  Fouche,  and  Collot  d'Herbois.  We  have  but  to  read 
the  account  in  the  third  volume  of  Alison,  or  what  on  this 
subject  may  seem  a  safer  authority,  though  they  draw  from 
the  same  sources,  Lamartine's  history  of  the  Girondins.  I 
could  scarcely  believe,  in  traversing  the  Brotteaux  in  1818, 
that  twenty-five  years  only  had  elapsed,  since  it  was  the  scene 
of  the  unimagined  horrors  practised  under  those  monsters. 
Finding  the  guillotine  too  slow  to  satiate  their  thirst  for 
blood,  they  filled  the  square  with  the  best  citizens  of  Lyons, 
their  hands  tied  behind  them,  to  be  swept  down  by  grape  shot, 
ranging  along  a  cable  to  which  they  were  secured,  and  then 
bayonetted  them  at  leisure,  as  they  lay  mutilated  and  gasping 
on  the  reeking  ground.  Nothing  in  the  legends  of  the  church 
need  be  disbelieved  after  reading  that,  in  the  last  decade  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  the  ruling  power  of  France  decreed 
that  the  second  city  under  their  government  should  be  razed 
from  the  face  of  the  earth  ;  its  inhabitants  exiled  or  put  to 
death ;  its  name  blotted  from  the  catalogue  of  cities ;  and  that 
three  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars  should  have  been  expended 
in  tearing  down  the  houses  that  lined  its  finest  streets  and 
squares  ! 

Among  the  heroic  defenders  of  Lyons,  who  happily  es 
caped  these  sanguinary  horrors,  and  lived  to  reap  in  peace 
the  reward  of  his  marvellous  ingenuity,  was  the  modest  and 
patient  Jacquard.  This  wonderful  man,  the  inventor  of  the 
loom  which  bears  his  name,  and  which  has  given  a  new  char 
acter  to  the  art  of  weaving  in  figured  and  raised  patterns, 
throughout  the  world,  was  the  son  of  a  common  weaver  of 
Lyons.  He  was  reduced  so  low,  even  in  middle  life,  but  be 
fore  he  had  succeeded  in  bringing  his  loom  into  working  con 
dition,  that  he  was  compelled  to  support  himself  by  aiding 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  369 

his  wife  in  the  preparation-  of  the  straw,  which  she  braided  for 
the  hats  worn  by  the  peasantry.  Although,  in  consequence 
of  his  invention,  the  number  of  weavers  has  been  increased  a 
hundred,  not  to  say  a  thousand  fold,  they  were  so  incensed 
against  him,  when  his  looms  were  first  constructed,  that  he 
narrowly  escaped  being  thrown  by  a  mob  into  the  Rhone ! 
Napoleon,  by  an  imperial  decree  at  Berlin  in  1806,  granted 
him  fifty  francs  (about  ten  dollars)  on  every  loom  constructed 
on  his  pattern.  It  was  all  he  asked,  and  Napoleon,  astonished  at 
his  moderation,  exclaimed,  as  he  put  his  name  to  the  decree  : 
"  Here's  a  man  who  is  content  with  a  little !  "  If  all  the 
Berlin  decrees  had  been  as  harmless  in  their  purport,  the  war 
of  1812,  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  would 
not  have  been  fought.  If  Napoleon  himself  had  been  also 
"  content  with  a  little,"  Jacquard's  epitaph  might  have  been 
written  on  his  monument,  "  A  man  of  virtue  and  genius,  he 
died  at  home."* 

*  Homme  de  bicn  ct  de  genie,  mort  a  Oullins,  dans  sa  maison,  1  Aout,  1834. 

16* 


ISTUMBEE   FOKTY-ONE. 

FROM  LYONS  TO  GENEVA. 

Silk  fabrics  of  Lyons— First  glimpse  of  mountain  scenery— Nantua— Bellegarde— In 
genious  smuggling — Pert  du  Ehone — Caesar's  description  of  the  defile — Ancient 
Switzerland  compared  to  Michigan  and  Wisconsin — First  appearance  of  the  Hel- 
vetii  or  ancient  Swiss  in  history — Emigration  of  the  entire  people  into  France — 
Overtaken  and  defeated  with  great  loss  by  Caesar,  and  the  survivors  compelled 
to  return  to  Switzerland — A  muster-roll  in  Greek  characters  discovered  in  their 
camp  which  gives  their  numbers — Caesar's  great  career  begins  with  the  conquest 
of  the  Helvetii — beautiful  prospects  on  the  way  from  Fort  FEcluse  to  Geneva. 

AFTER  a  sojourn  of  three  days  we  left  Lyons  with  regret, 
for  it  contains  objects  which  might  occupy  the  time  of  the  ob 
servant  traveller  not  unprofitably  for  weeks  and  months. 
The  silk  fabrics,  especially,  are  well  worthy  attention ;  the 
contrast  between  the  brilliant  colors,  taseteful  figures,  and 
rich  materials  of  the  brocades  and  the  dingy  and  dreary  as 
pect  of  the  rooms,  machinery,  and  I  may  add,  operatives 
employed  in  their  manufacture,  was  very  striking.  They  are 
carried  through  the  loom  and  come  out,  without  a  spot  or 
blemish,  from  apartments,  through  which  it  is  not  easy  to 
pass  without  getting  your  clothes  soiled.  We  were  told  that 
some  of  the  richest  tissues  were  destined  for  the  markets  of 
the  East.  It  shows  the  hopeless  inferiority  of  the  Asiatic  civ 
ilization,  that  the  luxury  of  those  regions,  where  a  species  of 
refinement  has  existed  for  at  least  four  thousand  years,  should 
be  tributary  to  the  Celtic  forests, — or  what  were  Celtic  for 
ests  in  the  days  of  Xerxes  and  Darius, — for  their  richest 
adornments.  In  fabrics  wholly  wrought  by  hand,  the  East,  it 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  371 

is  true,  still  maintains  her  superiority.  France  has  striven 
in  vain  to  rival  the  shawls  and  muslins  of  India ;  which  is, 
however,  but  another  proof  at  how  low  a  price  human  labor 
and  time  can  there  be  commanded, — itself  an  indication  of 
social  and  political  wretchedness  and  degradation.  The  re 
markable  copies  of  Stuart's  Washington,  recently  produced  in 
the  looms  of  Lyons,  and  introduced  into  this  country  by  Mr. 
Goodrich,  resembling,  at  a  very  moderate  distance,  a  fine 
engraving,  show  to  what  perfection  the  textile  arts  have  been 
carried  in  Lyons. 

There  is  nothing  of  much  interest  on  the  road  from  Lyons 
to  Geneva  till  you  reach  the  Jura  mountains.  The  Rhone 
flows  through  an  extensive  plain  unmarked  by  any  attractive 
features ;  but  from  the  time  you  reach  the  region  where  it 
bursts  through  the  mountains,  till  you  have  made  the  tour  of 
Switzerland  and  have  descended  the  Alps  on  the  Italian  side, 
all  is  picturesque  beauty  and  wild  sublimity.  At  Cerdon  the 
road  begins  to  rise,  and  here  most  travellers  from  the  Atlan 
tic  States  of  America  or  from  England  will  get  their  first  im 
pressions  of  genuine  mountain  scenery.  Though  they  may 
have  seen  greater  elevations,  they  will  probably  not  have  seen 
detached  summits  ascending  so  abruptly  and  boldly  and  sepa 
rated  by  such  yawning  chasms,  or  roads  winding  at  such 
alarming  heights  along  their  sides.  The  landscape  as  you 
begin  to  ascend  after  passing  Cerdon,  is  beautifully  variegated 
by  the  winding  of  the  stream,  by  a  tumbling  cascade,  and 
several  ruined  castles.  Of  these  last  I  did  not  learn  their  his 
tory  if  they  have  any.  They  belong  I  suppose,  to  that  period 
in  the  annals  of  mediaeval  Europe,  when  every  commanding 
eminence  or  narrow  defile  was  the  site  of  a  fortress,  and 
every  robber  count  and  petty  baron  went  to  war  on  his 
own  authority.  Europe  is  full  of  the  ruins  of  these  strong 
holds,  and  they  form  the  most  striking  point  of  contrast  with 
American  scenery. 

We  passed  the  night  at  Nantua,  a  quiet  little  place,  em- 


372  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS. 

bosomed  in  Jura.  It  is  surrounded  on  three  sides  by  bare 
cliffs,  rising  hundreds  of  feet  almost  perpendicularly  from  the 
plain,  and  on  the  fourth  side  it  lies  open  to  a  pretty  lake, 
along  the  shores  of  which  you  approach  the  town.  This  con 
trast  of  the  placid  surface  of  the  water,  as  we  saw  it  in  the 
dusk  of  the  evening,  with  the  dark  woods  and  frowning  crags 
that  tower  above,  was  remarkably  pleasing.  The  Lake  of 
Nantua  and  the  little  streams  that  feed  it,  are  famous  for  their 
trout  and  fresh  water  shell-fish,  and  our  well  served  table  at 
night  bore  witness  that  the  fame  was  not  unmerited ;  though 
it  must  be  owned  that  young  travellers,  who  have  been  on 
the  road  since  daybreak,  without  stopping  to  dine,  are  much 
more  likely  to  appreciate  the  quantity  than  the  quality  of  what 
is  placed  before  them  at  supper. 

We  started  early  in  the  morning  under  a  deluge  of  rain 
and  a  truly  Egyptian  darkness,  which  gave  a  sort  of  ghostly 
solemnity  to  our  passage  through  the  mountains.  Day 
dawned  upon  us  through  jagged  chasms  as  destitute  of  vege 
tation  as  the  rocks  on  which  the  ocean  has  beaten  since  the 
creation  of  the  world;  while  far  below  our  feet  the  Rhone 
wound  its  devious  way,  and  little  farms,  with  their  cottages, 
patches  of  vineyards  even,  and  pastures  lined  its  banks. 
While  the  sun  was  still  low  in  the  horizon,  and  shooting  his 
beams  aslant  into  these  awful  hillside  recesses,  which  foot  of 
living  being  never  penetrated,  some  sudden  turn  of  the  road 
would  carry  us  round  into  what  seemed  a  sort  of  vast  moun 
tain  prison,  open  but  to  the  heavens,  and  lighted  up  only  by 
the  cold  gray  dawn. 

Bellegarde  is  the  frontier  between  France  and  Geneva. 
The  rail  roads  in  Europe  have,  I  am  told,  forced  upon  the 
Custom-house  officers  a  laudable  promptitude  in  examining  the 
baggage  of  travellers.  Unless  there  is  something  very  suspi 
cious  in  the  appearance  of  the  traveller  or  his  trunks,  the 
search  is  almost  nominal ;  and  when  appearances  are  suspi 
cious,  the  individual  is  detained  and  the  train  allowed  to  pro- 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  373 

ceed.  We  were  told  of  an  amusing  trick  sometimes  practised 
here,  as  elsewhere  on  the  frontier,  to  elude  the  vigilance  of  the 
Custom-house.  Powerful  dogs  are  trained  to  cross  the  fron 
tier  by  lonely  paths  through  the  mountains,  little  known 
except  to  the  smugglers.  The  poor  animals  are  kept  rather 
short  of  food,  till  they  arrive  at  their  destination,  where  they 
are  liberally  fed ;  and,  what  seems  the  hardest  part  of  the 
discipline,  in  order  to  make  them  particularly  careful  to  give 
the  douane  a  good  berth,  they  are  soundly  beaten,  from  time 
to  time,  by  persons  wearing  the  uniform  of  Custom-house  offi 
cers.  Small  cases,  containing  the  movements  of  watches  and 
musical  boxes,  and  some  fine  Swiss  fabrics,  are  strapped  about 
the  bodies  of  the  dogs,  and  a  considerable  contraband  trade 
thus  carried,  on.  At  this  frontier,  the  rigor  of  the  Custom 
house,  if  at  all,  would  be  felt  on  entering,  not  on  leaving, 
France.  At  any  rate,  we  were  treated  with  great  considera 
tion,  and  neither  there  nor  elsewhere  had  any  thing  to  com 
plain  of,  in  the  examination  of  our  baggage. 

A  short  distance  from  the  Inn  at  Bellegarde  is  the  famous 
Pert  du  Rhone,  (Loss  of  the  Rhone,)  the  place  where  the 
river,  at  a  low  stage  of  the  water,  wholly  disappears,  and  finds 
an  underground  passage  for  more  than  a  hundred  yards 
through  the  limestone  rock,  not  a  very  uncommon  circum 
stance  in  a  calcareous  formation.  The  river,  when  we  saw  it, 
was  swollen  by  the  heavy  rain  of  the  preceding  night,  and  the 
volume  of  water  was  too  great  to  pass  entirely  through  the 
subterranean  conduit.  There  was  consequently  nothing  re 
markable  in  the  external  appearance  of  things.  The  passage 
of  the  Rhone  through  the  Jura  is,  however,  under  any  circum 
stances,  a  striking  object.  The  gorge  is  narrow,  formed  by 
precipitous  heights,  and  the  river  is  contracted  to  about  the 
tenth  part  of  its  width  at  the  outlet  of  the  Lake  of  Geneva. 
When  swelled  by  heavy  rains  or  the  melting  of  the  Alpine 
Glaciers,  it  roars  with  magnificent  violence  through  the  nar 
row  defile.  Caesar  describes  the  road  that  passes  by  its  side 


374          THE  MOUNT  VEBNON  PAPERS. 

with  minute  accuracy,  although  modern  engineering  has  con 
trived  to  supersede  the  "  angustum  et  difficile  inter  montem 
Juram  et  fiumen  Rhodanum  \iter~\,  vix  qua  singuli  carri  du- 
cerentur"  by  a  broad  railroad  track. 

Fort  JEcluse  stands  at  the  extremity  of  the  defile  nearest 
France.  The  military  position  is  naturally  very  strong  ;  ac 
cording  to  Caesar  ut  facile  perpauci  prohibere  possent,  so  that  a 
very  few  persons  could  obstruct  the  passage.  In  addition  to 
this,  it  was  fortified,  I  believe,  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.,  but 
the  fortress  in  some  subsequent  war  has  been  destroyed. 
When  we  passed,  there  was  said  to  be  an  intention  to  rebuild 
it. 

This  passage  has,  in  all  time,  been  one  of  the  main  en 
trances  into  France  on  the  Italian  side,  a  highway  trodden  by 
mighty  armies  from  the  dawn  of  history.  It  was  through 
this  passage  that  the  ancient  Swiss  (the  Helvetii)  emerged  to 
the  notice  of  the  world.  They  were  unknown  to  the  Greeks 
in  the  palmy  days  of  their  greatness  ;  and  even  in  the  decline 
of  Greece,  her  writers,  to  the  amazement  of  M.  Simond, 
"  speak  of  the  Rhone  and  the  Lake  of  Geneva,  much  as  Cana 
dian  hunters  do  of  Lake  Michigan  and  the  Blue  Fox  River." 
"  It  is  curious,"  he  says,  "  to  imagine  such  a  country  as  Swit 
zerland,  in  the  state  in  which  the  interior  of  America  is  in  our 
day."  M.  Simond  travelled  in  Switzerland  in  the  same  year 
(1818)  in  which  I  did.  At  that  time  Lake  Michigan  and  the 
Blue  Fox  River  might  be  said  to  be  in  the  remote  interior  of 
America,  and  the  regions  watered  by  them  still  comparatively 
in  a  state  of  nature,  and  occupied  by  tribes  somewhat  lower 
in  the  scale  of  civilization  than  the  Helvetii  before  the  time  of 
Csesar.  Forty  years  only  have  passed  away,  and  Lake  Mich 
igan  and  the  Blue  Fox  River  at  the  present  day  (if  that  mean 
the  Fox  River  of  Wisconsin)  water  a  region  many  times  as 
populous  as  Switzerland ;  containing  rapidly  multiplying 
towns  and  villages ;  with  churches,  schools,  and  colleges ; 
traversed  by  railroads  and  electric  telegraphs,  and  affording 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  375 

in  their  rich  wheat  fields  a  bountiful  home  to  the  starving 
thousands  who  emigrate  from  Europe, — in  due  proportion 
from  Switzerland ! 

The  mind  is  stirred  to  busy  thought  on  a  spot  like  this. 
The  Swiss,  whose  neutrality  is  now  consecrated  by  the  law  of 
nations,  and  who  have  for  centuries  been  protected  by  it  from 
being  absorbed  by  their  powerful  neighbors,  are  first  known 
by  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  encroachments  which  his 
tory  records.  Not  long  after  the  Romans  had  reduced  the 
south-eastern  corner  of  Gaul  to  the  condition  of  a  Province,  (of 
which  a  memorial  never  to  be  effaced  is  stamped  upon  the  very 
language  of  the  country,  in  the  name  of  Provence?)  an  army 
of  barbarians,  of  which  the  Helvetii  formed  a  part,  about  a 
little  more  than  a  hundred  years  before  our  era,  defeated  the 
Roman  Consul  near  Marseilles ;  but  in  consequence  of  a  di 
version  effected  by  another  Roman  army  in  their  rear,  were 
obliged  to  return  and  defend  their  own  country.  The  two 
armies  met,  it  is  supposed,  not  far  from  the  spot  where  the 
Rhone,  descending  from  the  Valais,  is  about  to  enter  the  Lake 
of  Geneva.  The  trained  legions  which  had  overrun  Mace 
donia  and  all  the  conquests  of  "  Macedonia's  madman  "  in 
Greece,  in  Asia,  and  in  Egypt,  were  broken  by  their  barba 
rous  enemies.  Another  arid  a  larger  Roman  army  soon  met 
the  same  fate  ;  and  then  the  tide  of  fortune,  as  so  often  before 
in  Roman  history,  was  turned.  The  Helvetii  and  their  con 
federates  were  defeated  in  two  great  battles  at  Aix,  in  Pro 
vence,  by  Marius,  and  soon  after  associated  with  the  Cimbri 
and  the  Teutones,  in  their  final  attempt  to  force  their  way 
into  Italy,  they  experienced  a  last  overwhelming  defeat  by 
the  same  fortunate  chieftain.  One  cannot  but  feel  that  there 
is  "  nothing  new  under  the  sun,"  when  he  reflects,  that  in  the 
year  101,  before  our  Saviour,  the  Germans  of  that  day  fought 
their  battle  of  Solferino,  in  that  very  quadrilatere,  within 
which  the  fortunes  of  their  race,  as  far  as  Italy  is  concerned, 


376  THE    MOUNT   VEJtNON    PAPEES. 

are  now  (23d  July)  trembling  in  the  balance  of  a  doubtful 
diplomacy , 

These  foreign  expeditions,  however  disastrous  at  the  time, 
did  not  break  the  spirit  of  the  Helvetii.  That  was  an 
achievement  reserved  for  a  greater  than  Marius.  They  had 
tasted  the  figs  of  Provence  and  "  quaffed  the  pendent  vintage  " 
of  Burgundy,  and  resolved  to  abandon  the  shores  of  the  lake 
of  the  "  four  sylvan  cantons  "  and  the  cold  sides  of  the  Alps 
and  the  Jura,  for  a  milder  region.  In  a  word,  they  deter 
mined  to  transfer  their  entire  population  from  Switzerland  to 
Gaul ;  from  which  we  may  infer  that  in  those  primitive  days, 
the  mystic  attachment  of  the  Swiss  to  his  native  mountains 
did  not  exist.  After  two  years  of  secret  preparations,  in 
which  stores  were  collected  for  the  sustenance  of  an  invading 
nation,  the  great  movement  commenced,  according  to  Ccesar, 
on  the  28th  of  March,  of  the  year  58  before  our  Saviour. 
The  aged  and  infirm,  the  women  and  the  children,  were  placed 
on  wagons,  drawn  by  oxen ;  determined  never  to  return,  they 
burned  their  twelve  Cantonal  towns  and  four  hundred  vil 
lages  ;  and  moved  forward  an  invading  nation  toward  the 
coveted  plains  of  Burgundy.  Ceesar,  at  that  time,  governed 
the  Province  with  pro-consular  power,  but  seems  to  have 
been  taken  somewhat  by  surprise.  The  single  legion,  which 
composed  his  whole  force,  could  oppose  but  an  ineffectual  re 
sistance  to  the  advance  of  an  entire  people  of  hardy  adventu 
rers  ;  and  leaving  Labienus  to  watch  their  progress,  he- 
hastened  to  Italy  for  new  levies.  The  Helvetii,  in  the  mean 
time,  turned  the  wall,  which  Caesar  had  constructed  from 
Geneva  to  the  mountains,  and,  guided  by  the  river,  broke 
through  Jura,  where  the  Rhone  does.  There  was  no  one  to 
oppose  them  on  the  "  lofty  mountain,"  where  "  a  very  few 
could  have  stopped  their  way,"  and  they  rushed  into  Gaul. 

But  they  rushed  to  their  fate.  Caesar,  who  construed  the 
law  of  nations  with  great  strictness  against  the  "  rest  of  man 
kind,"  and  deemed  it  an  outrage  for  anybody  but  the  Romans 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  377 

to  encroach  upon  his  neighbors,  overtook  them  with  six 
legions  before  they  had  wholly  passed  the  Saone ;  cut  off 
their  rear  (one-fourth  part  consisting  of  the  Zurichers,)  while 
they  were  passing  the  river ;  defeated  the  main  body  in  a 
general  action  ;  hung  upon  the  retreat  of  those  that  escaped  ; 
and  after  having  destroyed  three-fourths  of  their  entire  num 
ber,  allowed  the  remainder,  crushed  and  humbled,  to  return 
to  their  native  vallies,  and  rebuild  their  cabins  at  the  foot  of 
the  glaciers.  He  found  among  the  spoils  of  their  camp  a 
register  of  their  forces,  kept  in  "  Greek  letters,"  and  no  doubt 
also  in  the  Greek  language  ;  though  on  that  point  the  learned 
are  not  agreed.  It  was  unquestionably  drawn  up  by  some 
"  Grseculus  esuriens "  (hungry  little  Greek)  an  adventurer 
from  Marseilles  ;  for  personages  of  that  class, — adventurers  if 
not  renegades  from  civilized  regions,' — are  invariably  found  in 
barbarous  and  semi-civilized  States,  in  offices  of  trust  requir 
ing  literary  attainments.  Italians,  Germans,  and  Polish  Jews 
are  found,  at  the  present  day,  in  employments  of  that  kind,  at 
the  courts  of  the  Turkish,  Persian,  and  Tartar  Emirs  and 
Viziers  from  Syria  to  India.  By  this  Greek  Register,  it  ap 
peared  that  this  invading  force  consisted  of  263,000  Swiss  and 
105,000  of  their  allies  from  the  Jura,  the  Lake  of  Constance, 
the  Grisons,  and  the  Tyrol ;  amounting  together  to  368,000 
persons,  of  whom  a  fourth  part,  not  a  large  proportion  for 
tribes  in  that  state  of  civilization,  were  fighting  men.  No 
great  reliance  is  to  be  placed  on  the  geographical  syno 
nyms,  by  which  the  Helvetian  allies  enumerated  by  Caesar 
are  referred  to  modern  localities ;  and  numerical  data  are 
matters  of  great  uncertainty  in  all  ancient  authors,  owing  to 
their  liability  to  error  in  the  process  of  transcription.  The 
foregoing  numbers,  however,  do  not  appear  exaggerated.  A 
half  a  million  is  a  moderate  estimate  for  the  entire  population 
of  a  region  whose  arms  defeated  those  of  Consular  Rome  at 
the  height  of  her  power. 

After  being  compelled  to  return  to  their  former  homes, 


378  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

the  ancient  Swiss  remained  in  subjection  to  their  conquerors, 
protected  for  a  while  from  new  swarms  of  invaders,  more 
barbarous  than  themselves,  by  the  terror  of  the  Roman  name. 
Caesar,  meantime,  in  conquering  them  struck  the  first  blow 
for  the  conquest  of  his  country  and  the  world.  The  liberties 
of  Rome  fell  not  so  much  when  he  crossed  the  Rubicon  as 
when  he  crossed  the  Arar,*  to  attack  the  Swiss.  That  was 
the  commencement  of  his  unparalleled  career. 

The  road  from  Fort  UEcluse  to  Geneva  is  beautiful ;  a 
richer  prospect  is  rarely  to  be  seen.  The  rain  had  washed 
the  dust  from  lawn  and  grove  and  thicket,  and  the  verdure  of 
Autumn  had  sprung  up  and  covered  the  stubble  of  harvest. 
Every  thing  looked  fresh  and  bright.  Jura  running  off 
to  the  north-east  bounded  the  view  on  the  left ;  the  dis 
tant  Alps  in  front  and  on  the  right ;  Mont  Blanc  in  the 
extreme  background,  glittering  in  a  meridian  sun.  Before 
you,  as  you  proceed,  a  beautiful  plain  descends  gradually  to 
the  Lake,  and  cultivation  is  pushed  up  to  the  roots  of  Jura. 
Farm-houses,  villas,  patches  of  wood,  the  Rhone  hurrying  to 
its  struggle  through  the  mountains,  and  bearing  along  with  it 
the  sparkling  tribute  of  a  hundred  silver  brooks  from  the 
highlands,  give  life  and  charm  to  the  landscape.  At  noon  we 
reached  Geneva ;  it  was  a  fast  day ;  the  gates  of  the  city  were 
shut  upon  all  egress,  and  the  streets  were  still  and  sad. 

*  The  ancient  name  of  the  Saone. 


NUMBER   FORTY-TWO. 

EXCURSION  FROM  GENEVA  TO  CHAMOUNI,  MONT  BLANC. 

The  various  attractions  in  Geneva — The  influence  of  Calvin — The  road  to  Chamouni 
up  the  valley  of  the  Arve — Kemarkable  scene  beyond  Bonneville — Nant  d'Ar- 
peniiaz — First  view  of  Mont  Blanc— Goitres,  whether  considered  a  beauty  by  the 
peasantry— Lac  de  Chede— Servoz— The  Upper  Arve— Entrance  into  the  valley  of 
Chamouni — The  glaciers— Description  of  a  glacier— Their  motion — Investigation 
of  the  cause  by  Professor  Agassiz — The  valley  of  Chamouni  first  made  known  to 
the  travelling  world  by  Pococke  and  "Windham  in  1741 — Alpine  scenery  less  fre 
quently  described  by  the  poets  than  might  have  been  expected. 

FEW  places  unite  in  the  same  degree  as  Geneva  and  its 
vicinity,  the  attractions  of  natural  beauty,  historical  associa 
tion,  and  great  names.  Its  lake,  the  deep  blue  waters  and 
divided  current  of  its  river,  the  confluence  of  the  Rhone  and 
the  Arve  in  the  immediate  neighborhood,  Jura  and  Mont 
Blanc, — which  may  be  said  to  belong  to  Geneva,  or  rather 
Geneva  to  them ;  its  ancient  memories,  going  back  to  the 
time  of  Csesar  ;  its  curious  mediaeval  annals,  and  the  fortunes 
of  its  independent  municipality  ;  the  great  characters  which, 
beginning  with  the  greatest  of  all,  Calvin,  have  adorned  it ; 
the  names  which  it  has  given  to  modern  letters,  Rousseau, 
Voltaire,  Gibbon,  de  Stael,  which,  if  not  native  to  the  region, 
have  been  intimately  connected  with  it ;  these  are  sufficient 
to  establish  its  claims  to  an  equal  variety  and  pre-eminence 
of  interest.  In  the  heraldry  of  the  moral  sentiments,  the 
ideas'  which,  through  the  Pilgrim  fathers,  the  English  dissent 
ers  and  Puritans,  and  the  Scottish  covenanters  trace  their 
descent  from  the  government  and  ministry  of  Calvin,  will  be 


o80  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

found  to  fill  no  second  place  in  the  spiritual  and  intellectual 
aristocracy  of  the  world.  I  suppose  there  are  more  persons, 
"belonging  to  the  reading  and  thinking  classes  of  society  in 
Europe  and  America,  whose  opinions  on  the  most  important 
subjects  have  been  to  some  extent  influenced,  if  not  wholly 
determined,  by  the  Instructions  given  in  the  church  of  St. 
Peter  in  Geneva,  three  hundred  years  ago,  than  by  those  of 
any  other  human  teacher.  Calvin's  grave,  without  any 
monument  or  memorial  but  the  letters  J.  C.,  attracts  every 
year  the  visits  of  hundreds — perhaps  thousands — of  pilgrims  ; 
and  his  manuscripts  in  the  public  library  (of  which  he  was 
the  founder)  are  examined  with  greater  curiosity  than  any 
thing  else  contained  in  it.  By  a  somewhat  curious  coinci 
dence,  the  same  library  contains  a  manuscript  on  papyrus,  of 
extreme  antiquity  and  unique  biographical  value,  of  some  of 
the  discourses  of  St.  Augustine, — the  still  greater  Calvin  of 
his  age,  at  least  as  far  as  doctrine  is  concerned. 

Geneva  was  rapidly  becoming  a  foreign, — almost  an  Eng 
lish  city, — forty  years  ago  ;  a  process  which  has,  as  I  under 
stand,  been  steadily  going  on  ever  since,  especially  since  the 
era  of  railroads.  Its  beautiful  environs  furnish,  for  the  year 
through,  a  more  comfortable  residence  than  those  of  the 
Italian  cities,  for  the  Russians  and  English,  who  in  great  num 
bers  seek  foreign  homes.  Many  persons  are  attracted  by  the 
charming  villa  scenery  of  the  Lake  ;  not  a  few  of  the  younger 
portion,  by  the  opportunity  of  acquiring  a  tolerably  good 
French  accent,  at  a  ch ^npcr  residence  than  Paris  ;  a  consider 
able  number  of  families  by  the  schools,  at  which  their  chil 
dren  are  educated  in  or  near  Geneva.  The  hospitable  and 
highly  cultivated  social  circles  of  the  city  often  tempt  the 
tourist  to  prolong  his  sojourn  far  beyond  its  intended  dura 
tion.  My  visit  was  too  short  to  enable  me  to  do  much  more 
than  to  feel  the  constantly  experienced  drawback  on  the  grati 
fications  incident  to  travel,  either  abroad  or  at  home, — I  mean 
the  regret, — often  the  sorrow, — of  forming  a  brief  acquaint- 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  381 

ance  with  persons  of  highly  cultivated  minds  and  the  most 
estimable  social  qualities,  whose  society  you  enjoy  for  a  few 
days,  and  from  whom  you  part  to  meet  no  more  on  earth. 

But  Mont  Blanc  is  the  object  uppermost  in  the  mind  of 
the  traveller  on  arriving  at  Geneva.  After  a  few  days  spent 
in  the  city,  we  made  our  visit  to  Chamouni.  The  road,  con 
stantly  ascending,  lies  for  the  greater  part  of  the  way  along 
the  banks  of  the  Arve  or  through  its  valley.  I  never  before 
felt  so  strongly  the  truth  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  remark,  that  it  is 
the  rivers  which  have  made  the  mountains  passable  and  open 
ed  their  gates  to  man.  The  process  described  in  his  famous 
account  of  the  confluence  of  the  Potomac  and  Shenandoah,  at 
Harper's  Ferry,  is  repeated  all  over  the  world.  Everywhere 
the  waters  have  burst  or  worn  their  wray  through  the  moun 
tains  ;  and  thus  opened  a  path  not  only  for  themselves  but 
for  man  and  his  highways. 

Nothing  very  striking  presents  itself  on  the  way  to  Cha 
mouni,  till  you  have  passed  Bonneville,  a  small  town  about 
half  way  on  the  first  day's  journey.  After  crossing  the  Arve, 
as  you  leave  this  place,  you  enter  a  stupendous  scene.  The 
valley  is  broad,  but  surrounded  by  rocky  walls  steeper  than 
the  goat  can  climb, — perpendicular  in  some  places,  nay,  in 
some  actually  overhanging  the  road.  They  seemed  to  realize 
the  simple  imagery  of  "  touching  the  sky."  In  some  places  as 
we  passed,  heavy  clouds  of  mist  hung  half  way  upon  their 
sides,  gilded  by  a  flood  of  sunbeams  pouring  over  their  tops. 
As  the  valley  makes  several  sudden  turns,  we  found  ourselves 
more  than  once,  surrounded  on  every  side  by  these  eternal 
barriers,  whose  contorted  strata  add  not  a  little  to  the  wild- 
ness  of  the  scene.  A  person  who  should  be  conveyed  while 
asleep  into  one  of  these  mountain  prisons  would  perceive  no 
outlet  nor  inlet,  and  would  think  he  must  of  necessity  have 
fallen  from  the  clouds.  There  is  occasionally,  however,  a 
considerable  space  betwen  the  river  and  the  foot  of  the  preci 
pice,  which  is  clothed  in  all  the  beauty  of  a  rich  culture.  The 


382  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

rays  of  the  sun  are  condensed,  as  on  a  hot  wall,  and  produce  an  al 
most  tropical  climate  in  the  near  neighborhood  of  Mont  Blanc. 
Unmitigated  adamantine  barrenness  and  a  luxuriant  vegetation 
are  thus  brought  into  immediate  contact  with  each  other.  A 
little  beyond  Maglan,  you  pass  the  Nant  cTArpennaz,  a  water 
fall  of  great  height  and  surpassing  beauty,  which,  at  some 
seasons  of  the  year,  after  breaking  into  dust  like  the  Staubbach, 
is  condensed  again  into  water,  in  the  latter  part  of  its  course, 
and  crossing  the  road  under  a  bridge  darts  in  foaming  eddies 
to  the  Arve.  The  contorted  stratification  to  which  I  have  just 
alluded  is  very  conspicuous  in  the  limestone  wall,  over  which 
the  Nant  d'Arpennaz  plunges. 

"We  passed  the  night  in  a  decent  inn  at  St.  Martin.  Here 
we  caught  the  first  fair  full  view  of  Mont  Blanc,  with  all  its  snows 
and  glaciers  gloriously  illuminated  by  the  setting  sun.  What 
I  had  seen  at  the  distance  of  a  hundred  miles,  from  Fourvieres 
at  Lyons,  resembling  a  heavy  white  cloud  in  the  horizon,  now 
towered  to  the  heavens,  a  mountain  of  purple  light.  The 
traveller  should,  by  all  means,  if  possible,  arrive  at  St.  Mar 
tin  in  season  to  enjoy  this  sunset  view  of  Mont  Blanc.  In  the 
morning  it  is  seen  under  a  different  light,  and  loses  something 
of  its  splendor.  But  whether  seen  in  the  morning  or  the 
evening,  the  first  distinct  near  view  of  Mont  Blanc  is  an  era 
in  a  man's  life.  It  is  twelve  or  thirteen  miles  distant  from 
St.  Martin,  but  such  is  the  pure  transparence  of  the  mountain 
air,  that  you  feel  as  if  the  next  step  would  bring  you  to  its 
crystal  sides.  Great,  however,  is  the  deception.  The  mode 
rate  distance  which  intervenes  between  you  and  the  summit  of 
the  mountain  is  still  sufficient  to  soften  the  savage  outline, 
bounding  what  seems  a  smooth,  glittering,  inclined  plane, — on 
which  you  might,  to  all  appearance,  walk  gently  up  to  heaven. 
It  is  not  till  you  have  contemplated  the  surrounding  and  nearer 
objects, — measured  the  valley  of  the  Arve  with  your  eye,  as  it 
ranges  up  the  course  of  the  river,  and  surveyed  the  sides  of 
the  Col  de  Forclaz,  dark  with  forests,  its  top  not  too  high  for 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

Alpine  pasturage, — (we  fancied  that  we  could  hear  the  tink 
ling  of  the  cowbells,  but  the  distance  was  too  great,) — and 
then  some  of  the  outer  buttresses  of  Mont  Blanc  which  lie 
beyond,  that  the  mind  corrects  the  illusion  of  the  sight,  and 
forming  a  clearer  idea  of  its  distance,  you  more  fully  appre 
ciate  its  majestic  dimensions. 

At  St.  Martin  we  left  our  post-chaise,  and  took  a  char-a- 
banc,  the  light  vehicle  of  the  mountains,  for  Chamouni. 
Seated  by  the  side  of  the  driver,  I  endeavored  to  learn  from 
him  if  there  was  any  foundation  in  truth  for  the  current 
notion,  that  the  goitre,  which  begins  to  prevail  as  you  pene 
trate  the  lofty  Alpine  vallies,  is  deemed  a  beauty  by  their 
inhabitants^  Anecdotes  built  on  that  supposition  are  found 
in  books  of  travels  and  novelettes  in  the  Periodicals.  "  What 
a  beauty  that  Miladi  would  be,  if  she  only  had  a  goitre  !  "  A 
wretched  object  in  whom  this  deformity  was  very  conspicuous 
passed  us,  as  we  were  toiling  up  the  road  before  reaching 
Chede.  I  repeated  to  the  driver  one  of  the  anecdotes  of  the 
kind  alluded  to,  and  asked  him  whether  the  young  men  and 
women  of  that  region  really  thought  the  goitre  a  beauty.  He 
looked  at  me  somewhat  reproachfully,  and  answered,  "  Mal- 
heureux  ceux  qui  en  ont"  woe  to  those  who  have  it ! 

The  road  is  very  steep  at  Chede.  Here  we  turned  aside 
to  see  a  pretty  cascade,  the  Nant  de  Chede,  arched  by  a  bril 
liant  rainbow.  Farther  on  we  came  to  the  Lac  de  Chede,  in 
which  Mont  Blanc  was  reflected  as  in  a  mirror.  The  guide 
book  states  that  in  1837,  it  was  filled  up  with  stone  and  black 
mud,  in  one  of  those  debacles,  or  mountain  freshets,  which  are 
continually  changing  the  aspect  of  the  vallies  in  the  upper 
Alps.  The  road  now  passes  over  what  was  the  Miroir  de 
Chede.  The  road  constantly  ascending  crosses  the  bed  of  a 
torrent, — probably  the  same  which  in  some  former  inunda- 
tion  filled  up  the  Miroir,  and  still  often  changes  its  track  by 
the  chaotic  accumulations  brought  down  by  every  violent 
storm.  The  considerable  effect  sometimes  produced,  in  this 


384:          THE  MOUNT  VEBNON  PAPEKR. 

way,  in  a  few  hours  in  the  narrow  rallies  interposed  between 
these  lofty  mountains,  teaches  a  significant  lesson  as  to  the 
vast  results  of  great  elemental  forces  acting  for  a  succession 
of  ages, — of  mighty  geological  periods, — on  the  earth's  surface. 

We  breakfasted  at  the  little  village  of  Servoz,  which  lies 
about  half  way  between  St.  Martin  and  Chamouni,  and  here 
we  got  the  last  view  of  the  summit  of  Mont  Blanc  before 
turning  into  the  valley.  Farther  on  it  is  hidden  by  interven 
ing  "  Domes,"  as  these  vaulted  mountain  heights  are  expres 
sively  called  in  French.  Not  far  from  Servoz,  you  cross  a 
mountain  torrent  called  the  Diosa,  and  soon  reach  the  Pont 
Pelissier,  where  the  Arve  whose  turbid  stream  first  attracted 
your  notice  at  its  junction  with  the  pure  blue  Rhone  below 
the  Lake  of  Geneva,  and  which  has  been  coquetting  with  you 
all  the  way  from  the  lake  up  to  Chamouni,  rushes  out  from  a 
mountain  gorge,  and  gives  a  character  to  the  valley.  It  still, 
as  you  toil  onward,  keeps  you  company  on  the  left,  bounding 
from  terrace  to  terrace ;  raving  through  the  rocks,  which  it 
has  itself  rent  from  the  mountain  sides,  sometimes  plunging 
into  depths,  where  the  eye  would  seek  in  vain  to  follow  it, 
but  occasionally  spreading  out  for  a  few  yards  into  a  smooth 
mountain  pool.  Mont  Blanc  now  looms  upon  you  in  all  its 
grandeur,  although  its  summit  is  hidden  by  the  Dome  du 
Goute.  You  are  now  in  the  valley  of  Chamouni ;  you  cross 
by  another  bridge  to  the  right  bank  of  the  Arve,  which  runs 
parallel  with  the  foot  of  the  Breven  and  at  a  short  distance 
from  it,  while  on  the  opposite  banks  a  succession  of  glaciers 
stretch  into  the  valley,  at  right  angles  to  its  course. 

A  glacier  of  the  largest  dimensions  is  to  the  thoughtful 
student  of  nature  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  phenomena  on 
the  surface  of  the  globe,  while  it  is  also  one  of  those  of  which, 
without  ocular  inspection,  it  is  most  difficult  to  form  an  accu 
rate  idea.  It  is  a  vast  mass  of  ice  and  melted  snow,  in  some 
cases  seven  or  eight  hundred  feet  thick,  and  several  miles 
wide  and  long,  filling  the  space  between  two  Alpine  ridges,  or 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEES.  385 

the  gorge  which  cuts  deep  into  the  face  of  a  mountain.  It  is, 
therefore,  a  frozen  sea,  whose  shores  are  composed  of  wild 
grariatic  or  calcareous  cliffs,  open  on  its  lower  end  to  the  val 
ley.  The  glacier  is  not  homogeneous,  but  its  lower  strata  con 
sists  of  solid  ice,  while  the  upper  portion  is  a  mass  which  has 
alternately  melted  and  frozen,  and  is  somewhat  porous.  The 
surface  is  rough  and  undulating,  and  broken  by  crevices,  some 
of  which  are  narrow  and  easily  leapt  over  by  the  aid  of  the 
Alpine  staff,  shod  with  iron,  which  is  placed  in  the  traveller's 
hand ;  others  are  wide,  deep,  and  impassable ;  a  yawning, 
frozen  grave  to  the  hapless  tourist,  who  should  miss  a  step 
upon  the  brink.  A  very  striking  case  of  a  fatal  accident  of 
this  kind  is  narrated,  in  the  London  Illustrated  News  for  the 
27th  of  August,  1859.  From  the  lower  extremity  of  the 
glacier  a  stream  of  water  issues,  produced  by  the  action  of 
the  sun  on  the  exposed  surfaces  of  the  mass,  and  percolating 
through  the  crevices,  and  the  porous  substance  of  the  glacier, 
whose  volume  thus  suffers  a  diminution  in  the  summer,  some 
times  equal  to  its  increase  in  the  winter. 

But  the  most  extraordinary  fact  in  connection  with  the 
glaciers  is  their  motion.  It  has  long  been  known  that  the 
mighty  mass,  which  one  would  suppose  must,  independent  of 
its  wreight,  be  frozen  immovably  to  the  eternal  rocks  that 
bound  and  underlie  it,  is  nevertheless  steadily  ploughing  its 
way,  with  irresistible  force,  down  the  inclined  surface  on 
which  it  lies,  grinding  and  throwing  up  vast  furrows  of  granite, 
limestone  and  gravel,  called  moraines,  from  the  sides  of  the  gorge. 
This  fact,  I  say,  was  noticed  by  the  early  observers,  but  much 
doubt  rested  on  the  cause  of  the  motion.  The  researches  of  Pro 
fessor  Agassiz,  carried  on  with  unwearied  diligence,  wonderful 
acuteness  of  observation,  and  sagacity  of  inference,  have  estab 
lished  the  theory,  now  generally  accepted,  that  this  forward  mo 
tion  is  caused  by  the  action  upon  each  other  of  the  particles  which 
compose  the  somewhat  porous  mass  of  the  glacier,  and  which 
are  alternately  expanded  and  contracted  by  change  of  temper- 
17 


386  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

aturc.  This  theory  attracted  great  attention  as  first  brought 
to  general  notice  by  Professor  Forbes,  (who  speaks  of  the 
glaciers  as  "  viscous  "  bodies,)  who  passed  some  weeks  with 
Mr.  Agassiz  on  the  gigantic  glacier  of  the  Aar,  where,  for 
several  successive  seasons,  this  last-named  illustrious  Philoso 
pher  had  been  pursuing  his  investigations. 

It  is  not  the  least  remarkable  circumstance  in  connection 
with  Mont  Blanc  and  Chamouni  that  they  remained  so  long 
unknown  to  the  travelling  world.  The  common  accounts  rep 
resent  them  as  having  been  discovered  by  Dr.  Richard  Po- 
cocke  (afterwards  Bishop  of  Ossory)  and  his  companion 
Windham,  in  1741.  Mr.  Simond,  one  of  the  most  intelligent 
of  modern  travellers,  says,  "  Incredible  as  it  may  seem,  this 
valley  of  Chamouni,  till  then  unknown,  was  discovered  in  1741 
by  two  Englishmen,  the  celebrated  traveller  Pococke  and  a 
Mr.  Windham."  This,  however,  requires  explanation.  The 
Priory,  which  still  gives  its  name  to  the  central  village  of 
Chamouni,  and  to  the  house  of  entertainment  there,  was 
founded  toward  the  close  of  the  eleventh  century  ;  a  visitation 
of  the  Bishop  of  Geneva,  in  whose  diocese  it  lay,  is  recorded 
in  the  fifteenth ;  and  St.  Francis  de  Sales  visited  it  in  the 
seventeenth  century.  I  take  these  facts  from  Murray's  hand 
book,  where  others  to  the  same  effect  may  be  found  ;  but  the 
statement  also  given  there,  that  the  Report  of  the  excursion 
of  Messrs.  Pococke  and  Windham  to  Chamouni  "  is  in  the 
Royal  Society's  transactions  in  1741  "  is  erroneous.  There 
is  nothing  of  that  kind  in  that  volume,  nor  as  far  as  the  index 
of  Reuss  can  be  trusted,  any  other  volume  of  the  Royal  So 
ciety's  transactions,  unless  it  appears  under  some  other  name. 
There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  valley  of  Chamouni  was 
"  unknown,"  in  any  strict  sense  of  the  word,  from  the  earliest 
antiquity,  in  any  other  way  than  all  thinly  inhabited  and  re 
mote  mountain  regions  were  unknown,  till  a  comparatively 
recent  period,  during  which  travelling  for  recreation  and 
pleasure  has  become  so  much  more  frequent  than  it  ever  was 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPEKS.  387 

in  former  times.  There  must  always  have  been  a  road, 
though  not  the  most  direct  one,  from  Geneva,  up  the  valley 
of  the  Arve,  through  Chamouni,  by  the  way  of  the  Col  de 
Balme,  to  Martigny,  where  a  Roman  legion  was  stationed  by 
Julius  Caesar.  It  is,  however,  most  true,  that  the  visit  of 
Messrs.  Pococke  and  Windham  is  the  earliest  that  is  known 
to  have  been  made  by  modern  tourists,  and  seems  to  have 
first  turned  the  attention  of  the  world  of  travellers  in  that 
direction. 

It  is  somewhat  noticeable  that  natural  phenomena,  so  pe 
culiar  and  extraordinary  as  the  awful  peaks  and  icy  seas  of 
the  upper  Alps,  should  not  more  frequently  have  furnished 
the  poets  with  appropriate  imagery.  Even  if  we  assume  that 
the  Mer  de  Glace  and  Mont  Blanc  were  "  discovered "  in 
1741,  other  portions  of  the  Alpine  chain  were  known  from 
time  immemorial.  A  continual  intercourse  for  the  purposes 
of  trade  as  well  as  war  has  been  kept  up  between  Italy  and 
the  regions  west  of  it,  at  least  from  the  time  of  the  Roman 
conquests,  and  through  the  middle  ages,  down  to  the  present 
day.  One  might  have  expected  that  natural  objects  of  a  char 
acter  so  grandly  marked  and  peculiar  would,  through  the  re 
ports  of  intelligent  travellers,  have  been  reflected  into  the 
literature, — prose  and  poetry — both  of  the  ancients  and  mod 
erns.  Cicero  and  Caesar,  Petrarch  and  Tasso  crossed  the  Alps, 
as  did  Milton  and  Addison,  Thomson  arid  Gray.  It  would 
be  hazardous  to  say  that,  in  the  wide  range  of  ancient  and 
modern  poetry,  there  is  no  description  of  the  scenery  in 
question,  till  the  last  century,  but  1  am  inclined  to  think  that, 
in  poets  of  the  first  class,  it  does  not  go  beyond  general  al 
lusions.  Milton  speaks  of  "  many  a  frozen  Alp,"  Thomson 
describes  an  Avalanche,  Coleridge  in  a  hymn,  mainly  bor 
rowed,  it  is  said,  from  the  German,*  chants  the  solemn  glories 
of  Chamouni  before  sunrise,  and  Byron,  who  wrote  his  Man- 

*  De  Quincey's  Literary  Kemintscences,  Vol.  I.,  p.  156. 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS. 

fred  within  sight  of  Mont  Blanc,  consecrates  one  majestic 
Quatrain  to  "  the  monarch  of  mountains."  But  I  recollect  no 
master  passage  (like  the  descriptions  of  the  Eruption  of  ^Etna 
by  Eschylus  and  Pindar)  of  which  you  would  say  after  read 
ing  it,  that  it  was  conceived  by  the  side  of  an  Alpine  glacier 
or  at  the  foot  of  an  Alpine  peak.  Some  splendid  stanzas  in 
Childe  Harold  may  be  deemed  an  exception  to  this  remark. 


NUMBER   FOKTY-THKEE. 

THE  HONTANVERT,  THE  SEA  OF  ICE,  AND  THE  GREEN 
GARDEN. 

Excursion  to  the  Jardin  Yert — Ascent  to  the  Montanvert — Prospect  from  it— Solita 
ry  cabin — Beautiful  midnight  scene — Crossing  the  Mer  de  Glace,  crevasses — 
Dangerous  pass  along  the  face  of  the  mountain— Keach  the  Jardin— Sublimity  of 
the  scene — Return  to  the  Montanvert — Descent  to  the  lower  end  of  the  Mer  de 
Glace  and  the  source  of  the  Arveiron — Geological  significance  of  the  recent  in 
quiries  into  the  formation  and  movement  of  the  Glaciers — Importance  of  these 
bodies  in  the  economy  of  nature. 

DESIROUS  of  seeing  a  fair  specimen  of  Alpine  scenery,  and 
not  having  time  to  multiply  excursions,  we  determined  on  visit 
ing  the  Jardin  Vert,  (the  Green  Garden,)  the  highest  point  of  vege 
tation  in  Europe.  This  spot  can  only  be  reached  by  ascending 
the  Montanvert,*  and  crossing  the  Mer  de  Glace,  (Sea  of  Ice,) 
which  is  one  of  the  noblest  glaciers  in  the  Alpine  range.  The  ex 
cursion  requires  a  day  and  a  half  from  the  valley  of  Chamouni, 
is  very  fatiguing,  and  at  that  time,  as  will  presently  be  seen, 
was  not  unattended  with  danger.  It  was,  therefore,  not  very 
frequently  undertaken.  Some  improvement  has,  I  believe, 
been  made  in  the  most  difficult  passes,  by  which  the  danger 
is  diminished ;  and  excursions  to  the  Jardin  Vert  are,  in  con 
sequence  more  common  than  they  were  forty  years  ago. 

Having  laid  in  a  small  stock  of  provisions,  we  started 
from  the  Inn  in  the  valley  of  Chamouni,  at  three  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon.  The  road  for  the  first  part  of  the  way  lies 

*  This  name  is  variously  spelt.  In  the  French  motto  to  the  highly  interesting 
chapter  on  Chamouni,  in  Beattie  and  Bartlett's  Switzerland,  Yol  L,  it  is  written 
Mont  En-ccrs 


390  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

through  the  valley  of  the  Arve,  but  begins  to  ascend  rapidly 
after  you  strike  into  the  pine  woods  that  skirt  the  foot  of  the 
mountain.  There  was  in  1818  no  beaten  pathway  through 
this  patch  of  forest,  and  we  suffered  a  good  deal  of  fatigue  in 
following  our  guides,  as  they  led  us  over  fallen  trees,  project 
ing  roots,  scattered  boulders  from  the  heights  above,  and 
across  the  bed  of  torrents,  which,  after  a  heavy  rain,  came 
foaming  dowrn  the  mountain  sides.  But  the  fine  views  that 
continually  open  upon  you  as  you  ascend — the  opposite  sum 
mits  of  the  Breven,  the  range  of  the  valley,  and  presently  the 
magnificent  peak  called  the  Aiguille  de  Dru — amply  repay 
you  for  the  labor.  The  distance  to  the  Montanvert,  as  we 
travelled  it,  was  about  three  leagues,  which  took  us  about 
half  a  mile  above  the  level  of  the  valley.  There  was  accord 
ingly,  in  some  of  the  steeper  places,  no  little  need  of  the 
long  staves,  shod  with  iron,  with  which  our  guides  had  pro 
vided  us. 

We  reached  the  Montanvert  about  sunset,  and  there  en 
joyed  a  prospect  of  transcendent  grandeur  and  beauty.  The 
elevation  above  the  level  of  the  sea  is  about  equal  to  that  of 
Mount  Washington,  in  the  White  Mountains  ;  it  is  nearly 
the  highest  easily  accessible  point  in  the  Alps.  Light  even 
ing  clouds  were  floating  on  the  opposite  sides  of  the  Flegere 
and  Breven,  touched  and  gilded  by  the  twilight  of  a  mild 
September  evening.  Directly  before  us  and  beneath  the 
level  of  the  Montanvert  was  the  Sea  of  Ice,  entering  the  valley 
of  Chamouni  abruptly,  nearly  on  a  range  with  the  spot  where 
we  stood,  and  stretching  for  miles  backward  and  upward  to 
the  right.  This  immense  glacier  is  called  the  "  Sea  of  Ice  " 
from  its  magnitude,  and  because  its  rough,  broken  surface 
looks  as  we  may  suppose  the  sea  would  look,  if  it  could  be 
suddenly  frozen  solid  at  the  height  of  a  storm.  All  was 
silent  on  the  top  of  the  mountain,  except  that  a  cow-boy  was 
singing  his  ranz  des  vackes,  as  he  drove  his  four  or  five  ani 
mals  to  their  shed,  and  the  Arveiron,  in  the  stillness  of  the 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  391 

evening,  was  heard  with  a  hollow  murmur,  bursting  out  from 
beneath  the  glacier  below,  and  rushing  to  the  Arve. 

A  tolerably  substantial  cabin,  consisting  of  one  room,  but 
wholly  destitute  of  furniture,  except  two  or  three  wooden 
benches,  was  the  only  habitation  for  man  on  the  Montanvert 
in  1818.  A  small  inn  with  two  or  three  bed-rooms  has  since 
been  erected  for  the  accommodation  of  travellers.  A  cow 
herd  and  his  boy  were  the  only  occupants  of  the  lonely  spot 
at  that  time,  and  rnilk  and  curds  the  only  food  to  be  obtained 
there.  As  we  were  to  pass  the  night  on  the  mountain,  we 
had  provided  ourselves  more  substantially,  and  made  a  hearty 
meal  on  dried  goat-mutton.  This  done,  we  kindled  an  im 
mense  fire,  drew  two  benches  together,  and  with  our  feet  to 
the  blazing  logs,  and  our  knapsacks  for  pillows,  lay  down  to 
sleep.  At  midnight  I  was  wakened  by  the  moon,  full  or 
nearly  so,  pouring  upon  my  face,  through  the  window  of  the 
cabin.  I  did  not  hesitate  to  obey  the  summons,  and  went  out 
to  contemplate  a  scene  at  once  the  most  lovely  and  awful  that 
my  eyes  ever  rested  on.  The  light  of  the  moon  at  this  great 
elevation,  and  in  consequence  of  the  purity  of  the  air,  had  a 
strange  metallic  intensity.  The  supreme  stillness  of  Nature 
on  these  lofty  Alpine  summits,  unbroken  by  any  thing  but 
the  moan  of  the  Arveiron,  would  have  been  dreary,  had  not 
an  occasional  tinkle  of  the  cow-bell  from  the  shed  near  us 
given  a  token  of  life.  A  sharp  crack  from  the  glacier  from 
time  to  time  also  told  that  there  was  motion  there.  The 
mildness  and  serenity  of  midnight  in  these  frozen  solitudes 
were  as  pleasing  to  me  as  they  were  unexpected.  I  had  been 
anticipating  benumbing  cold  and  roaring  winds,  loaded  with 
blinding  particles  of  drift  snow. 

We  were  abroad  at  the  earliest  dawn.  Below  us  was  the 
frozen  sea,  six  or  seven  miles  in  length,  and  then  branching 
out  into  two  other  glaciers,  running  further  back  into  the  in 
most  recesses  of  the  Alps.  Directly  in  front  of  us  was  the 
Aiguille  de  Dru,  and  further  in  the  rear  and  on  the  right  the 


OUZ          THE  MOUNT  TERROR  PAPERS. 

Aiguille  du  Maine,  the  mighty  granitic  steeples  of  Nature's 
temple,  rearing  their  ragged  pinnacles  to  the  heavens.  About 
midway  between  the  Dru  and  the  Moine  is  the  Aiguille  Verte, 
which  overtops  both,  and  reaches  the  height  of  nearly  thirteen 
thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea ;  twice  tho  elevation 
of  the  Montanvert.  The  intervals  between  these  peaks,  which 
are  miles  apart,  are  filled  with  numerous  other  needles  (Ai 
guilles),  as  they  are  called,  of  various  sizes  and  heights,  which 
unite  to  give  an  inexpressible  savageness,  if  I  may  so  call  it, 
to  the  scene.  If  the  reader  will  fancy  to  himelf  an  immense 
mountain  gorge,  six  miles  long,  branching  into  two  others  of 
about  equal  length,  the  whole  forming  something  like  a  Y, 
the  sides  bounded  by  two  or  three  parallel  ridges  of  bare 
granite,  from  which  at  irregular  intervals  the  above-mentioned 
pinnacles  rise  to  the  clouds ;  and  will  then  conceive  this 
strange  enclosure  to  be  filled  with  a  stormy  sea,  which,  at  the 
moment  when  it  was  tossing  most  wildly,  had  been  frozen  to 
the  bottom,  so  that  it  should  spread  out  a  vast  rigid  mass, 
with  all  its  icy  billows  and  deep  crystal  chasms,  and  here  and 
there  a  stray  boulder  on  its  surface ;  he  will  have  as  correct 
an  idea  of  the  Her  de  Glace,  as  seen  from  the  Montanvert,  as 
can  be  formed  without  ocular  inspection. 

Our  day's  work  was  to  cross  this  frozen  sea  diagonally, 
and  return  before  night.  The  distance  to  be  traversed  on  the 
glacier  might,  in  a  straight  line,  be  about  three  miles,  but  it 
was  considerably  increased  by  following  a  serpentine  course. 
We  had  screwed  sharp  iron  points  into  the  soles  of  our  boots, 
and  our  long  poles  were  armed  with  iron.  With  this  pre 
paration  we  started,  each  following  his  guide.  The  moraines 
were  first  to  be  crossed,  by  a  toilsome,  and  frequently  diffi 
cult,  and  even  dangerous  path.  The  surface  of  the  glacier  wras 
in  some  places  extremely  rough  and  uneven,  and  broken  by 
crevices,  some  of  which  appeared,  as  we  looked  down,  to  be 
forty  or  fifty  feet  deep.  Woe  to  the  wretch  who  should  fall 
into  one  of  them  !  Some,  of  the  deepest  of  these  crevices 


THE  MOUNT  YEKNON  PAPEES.  393 

communicate  with  the  currents  that  flow  beneath  the  mass, 
and  carry  off  the  percolating  waters.  It  is  related  that  in 
1787,  a  shepherd,  who  was  living  sixty  years  afterwards,  fell 
into  one  of  these  deep  crevices, — crevasses,  as  they  are  more 
commonly  called  by  the  French  name, — which,  happily  for 
him,  communicated  with  the  vaulted  passage  worn  by  the 
trickling  waters,  through  which  he  escaped  to  the  light  of  day 
with  no  worse  injury  than  a  broken  arm. 

A  little  snow  had  fallen  shortly  before  we  crossed  the 
glacier,  and  it  was  necessary  to  use  great  care,  not  to  step  on 
places  where  it  had,  by  drifting,  formed  a  frail  and  treacher 
ous  crust  over  one  of  these  crevices.  With  all  our  care  to 
place  our  feet  exactly  in  the  footsteps  of  our  guide,  we  were 
sometimes  misled  by  the  apparent  solidity  of  the  adjacent 
surface,  and  slipped  into  holes  three  or  four  feet  deep.  Be 
sides  the  smaller  crevices  which  break  the  surface  of  the  gla 
cier,  it  is  traversed  by  broader  fissures,  at  right  angles  to  the 
main  direction  of  the  mass,  which  often  make  it  impossible  to 
advance  in  a  straight  line.  Occasionally  one  of  the  huge 
boulders  just  mentioned  would  afford  the  means  of  crossing 
these  fissures ;  sometimes  they  were  bridged  over  by  broad 
cakes  of  ice  ;  and  sometimes  it  was  necessary  to  climb  down 
on  one  side  and  up  on  the  other,  by  the  aid  of  the  projecting 
inequalities  in  the  icy  wall.  In  this  way  we  travelled  by  esti 
mate  about  six  miles  in  three  hours,  and  found  ourselves 
landed  at  the  foot  of  the  opposite  mountain,  called  the  Cou- 
vercle.  Here  we  rested  for  half  an  hour.  The  almost  per 
pendicular  face  of  this  mountain  was  next  to  be  climbed,  and 
here  the  danger  seemed  to  me  far  greater  than  at  "  the  Fonts," 
which  Murray's  Hand-book  calls  the  most  difficult  part  of  the 
excursion,  which  "  no  one  who  has  not  a  steady  head  should 
attempt  to  cross."  It  is  probable  that  the  constant  downward 
march  of  the  glacier,  ploughing  its  way  towards  the  valley 
may,  in  the  course  of  forty  years,  have  produced  important 
changes  in  the  moraines  (the  chaotic  ridges)  that  bound  it. 
17* 


394  THE  MOUNT  YEENON  PAPERS. 

In  ascending  the  side  of  the  mountain,  it  is  necessary  in  one 
place  to  pass  along  its  almost  perpendicular  face  at  a  height 
of  five  or  six  hundred  feet  from  its  base,  with  no  other  support 
for  the  feet  but  the  cavities,  an  inch  or  two  deep,  some  natural, 
some  apparently  artificial,  by  means  of  which,  supporting 
yourself  in  the  mean  time  with  your  hands,  you  sidle  along. 
One  of  the  guides  introduced  us  to  this  passage,  called  the 
Egralets,  by  the  tranquillizing  exclamation  :  "  Here  take  care 
how  you  step,  gentlemen,  or  you  are  lost !  " 

After  this  formidable  pass  we  had  still  to  climb  the 
mountain,  but  by  a  safer  ascent,  for  an  hour  and  a  half,  and 
then,  having  crossed  the  head  of  the  glacier,  we  reached  the 
Jardin  Vert,  a  small  green  spot,  in  the  very  heart  of  the  Alps, 
more  than  nine  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  Its 
size  varies  with  the  length  of  the  preceding  winter,  or  the  heat 
of  the  season.  It  is  sometimes  seven  or  eight  acres  in  ex 
tent,  but  it  appeared  to  me  less  than  two.  It  is  the  highest 
point  of  vegetation  in  Europe,  and  covered  with  a  coarse 
Alpine  grass.  No  description  can  do  justice  to  the  feelings 
which  one  experiences  at  this  great  elevation — the  joint  result 
of  sensation,  thought,  and  emotion.  You  still  see  around  you 
the  magnificent  peaks  already  described,  while  other  columns 
and  glaciers  open  upon  you  from  the  new  point  of  view.  Far 
away  as  you  are  in  these  terrible  mountain  fastnesses,  from 
every  living  being,  the  mind  sinks  under  the  fearful  solitude 
and  overwhelming  grandeur  of  the  scene.  There  was  not  a 
cloud  in  the  sky  ;  its  tint  was  nearly  black  ;  the  rays  of  the 
sun  were  condensed  as  in  a  vast  concave  mirror  ;  and  the  heat 
so  intense  that  our  faces  were  too  much  blistered  to  use  a 
razor  with  any  comfort,  for  a  week  afterwards. 

After  a  hearty  lunch  and  a  short  nap,  we  started  on  the 
return.  This  we  were  able  to  accomplish  in  rather  less  time 
than  the  ascent,  partly  because  a  considerable  part  of  the  way 
\vas  down  hill ;  and  in  other  places  because  we  had  our  morn 
ing's  pathway  in  the  snow  to  guide  us.  The  Egr -diets,  how- 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  395 

ever,  appeared  to  me  rather  more  formidable  than  they  did 
in  the  morning.  The  snow  that  lodged  in  the  excavations 
above-mentioned  had  partly  melted  and  coated  them  with  thin 
ice.  I  have,  in  the  course  of  my  life,  been  a  few  times  in  what 
seemed  to  me  dangerous  situations,  but  never  in  one  where 
the  peril  appeared  so  great.  We  got  back  to  the  Montanvert 
at  about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  having  accomplished 
the  difficult  expedition,  much  to  our  satisfaction,  in  about  ten 
hours  from  the  time  of  starting,  for  nine  of  which  we  had  been 
in  motion.  Our  guides  told  us  that  the  Jar  din  was  not  often 
visited ;  and  they  knew  of  but  one  lady  who  had  made  the 
excursion  ;  a  daughter  of  the  celebrated  aeronaut  Montgolfier. 

I  took  my  leave  of  the  Montanvert  with  a  sorrowful  feeling, 
that  I  should  never  probably  revisit  the  scene  of  so  much 
sublime  beauty.  We  descended  by  a  different  and  steeper 
path,  in  order  to  see  the  source  of  the  Arveiron.  A  part  of 
the  way  the  inclination  was  too  great  to  admit  any  use  of  the 
feet,  walking  or  running ;  we  were  obliged  to  resort  to  a 
simpler  form  of  locomotion,  which  speedily  brought  us  to  the 
foot  of  the  mountain,  and  to  the  front  of  the  glacier  as  it  pre 
sents  itself  to  the  valley.  This  is  what  may  be  called  the  out 
let  of  one  of  the  three  of  the  largest  Alpine  glaciers ;  for  among 
six  hundred  which  Escher  estimates  to  be  the  entire  number, 
that  of  Mont  Blanc  just  described,  of  Monte  Rosa,  and  of 
the  Finster-Aar-Horn  in  the  Bernese  Alps,  are  the  largest  and 
most  important.  The  last-named  has  been  explored  with  the 
greatest  care,  and  is  that  on  which  the  observations  of  Mr. 
Agassiz  were  made,  which  have  furnished  the  basis  of  the  ac 
cepted  theory  of  these  extraordinary  formations. 

The  arched  cavern  in  the  middle  of  the  face  of  the  glacier, 
from  which  the  Arveiron  was  pouring  forth  the  entire  drain 
age  of  the  Mer  de  Glace^  varies  in  dimensions  in  different 
seasons.  It  appeared  to  me,  at  the  outlet,  about  ninety  feet 
high, — the  entrance  to  a  magnificent  crystal  grotto.  In  win 
ter  it  is  said  wholly  to  disappear.  It  begins  to  be  formed  in 


396  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

spring,  increases  in  height  and  width  with  the  advance  cf 
summer ;  and  sometimes  the  upper  arch,  sometimes  the  lat 
eral  buttresses  become  so  much  softened  and  melted  away, 
that  a  considerable  portion  comes  down  with  a  mighty  crash. 
Contrary  to  what  might  be  expected,  the  water,  which  issues 
from  these  mountains  of  ice  and  snow,  is  not  remarkably 
clear.  It  is  generally  turbid,  sometimes  charged  with  earthy 
deposits,  the  result  no  doubt  of  the  grinding  action  of  the 
glacier  on  its  rocky  bed  and  sides. 

This  is  not  the  place  for  a  disquisition  on  the  important 
geological  inferences,  which  have  been  drawn  from  the  more 
accurate  study  of  the  Swiss  glaciers  of  late  years.  The  sur 
face  of  the  globe,  wherever  it  has  been  explored,  presents  ap 
pearances,  which  can  be  best  referred  to  the  action  of  these 
mighty  masses  of  ice,  driven  along,  in  some  former  condition 
of  our  planet,  by  oceanic  currents,  like  those  which  at  the 
present  day  bring  down  the  terrific  icebergs  of  the  North  to 
our  temperate  latitudes. — At  the  present  day,  it  is  justly  ob 
served  by  the  able  editor  of  Murray's  Hand-book  of  Switzer 
land,  that  "  it  is  highly  interesting  to  consider,  how  important 
a  service  the  glaciers  perform  in  the  economy  of  nature. 
These  dead  and  chilly  fields  of  ice,  which  prolong  the  reign  of 
winter  throughout  the  year,  arc,  in  reality  the  source  of  life 
and  the  springs  of  vegetation.  They  are  the  locked  up  reser 
voirs,  the  sealed  fountains,  from  which  the  vast  rivers,  travers 
ing  the  great  continents  of  our  globe,  are  sustained.  The 
summer  heat  which  dries  up  other  sources  of  water,  first 
opens  out  their  bountiful  supplies.  When  the  rivers  of  the 
plain  begin  to  shrink  and  dwindle  within  their  parched  beds, 
the  torrents  of  the  Alps,  fed  by  melting  snow  and  glaciers, 
rush  down  from  the  mountains  and  supply  the  deficiency  ; 
and  at  that  season  (July  and  August)  the  rivers  and  lakes  of 
Switzerland  are  the  fullest." 


NTTMBEK  FOETY-FOUE. 

GENEVA,  FERNET,  LAUSANNE. 

Kousseau's  house — His  manuscripts — Partial  insanity  the  best  apology  for  his  con 
duct — Voltaire's  Chateau  at  Ferney — Description  of  his  room  and  list  of  portraits 
iu  it— Other  memorials — Contrast  of  Ferney  as  it  was  during  Voltaire's  life-time 
and  its  present  appearance— His  lifo  and  works  an  entire  failure — Coppet  and 
Madame  de  Stael — Gouverneur  Morris — Lausanne — Gibbon's  house — its  appear 
ance  in  1818— Summer-house  in  the  garden,  where  he  was  accustomed  to  study — 
Last  lines  of  the  Decline  and  Fall  written  there — Hume's  striking  remark  in 
1767,  on  the  stability  and  duration  of  the  English  language,  in  consequence  of  its 
prevalence  in  America. 

HAVING  little  time  to  spare,  we  made  the  return  to  Geneva 
in  one  day,  which  was  done  with  the  greater  ease,  as  the  road 
is  generally  on  the  descent,  and  with  the  greater  willingness, 
as  the  prospects  looking  westward  are  far  less  magnificent. 
Our  lodgings  were  at  the  Ecu  de  Geneve,  wrhich  commanded 
in  the  rear  a  most  pleasing  view  of  the  River  and  the  Lake. 
The  former  is  perhaps  a  finer  object  than  that  portion  of  the 
Lake  which  is  seen  from  the  terrace.  The  "  arrowy  "  swift 
ness  of  the  Rhone,  the  deep  blue  tint  and  purity  of  the  water, 
as  it  hurries  in  its  divided  current  through  the  city,  are  re 
nowned  in  prose  and  in  poetry.  Every  one  has  heard  of  the 
confluence  of  the  Rhone  and  the  Arve,  a  short  distance  below 
the  city,  and  the  stately  refusal  of  the  former  to  mingle  its 
limpid  current  with  the  turbid  waters  of  the  latter  stream. 
At  the  table  d'hote  of  the  hotel  there  were  persons  (as  we  had 
the  means  of  knowing)  of  eight  different  countries,  speaking 
that  number  of  languages.  There  might  have  been  still  others 
of  different  nations  and  tongues.  Among  the  English  was 


398  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

Mr.  Elmsley,  whom  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  know  at  Ox 
ford, — one  of  the  best  Greek  scholars  of  his  time,  and  then  on 
his  way  to  examine  the  classical  manuscripts  in  the  Ambro- 
sian  library  at  Milan. 

The  house  in  which  Rousseau  was  born  is  on  a  street 
which  bears  his  name.  Though  of  three  stories  in  height, 
it  has  a  mean  appearance.  Over  the  door  are  inscribed  in 
plain  letters  the  words  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau,  ne  id  xxviii 
Juin,  1712,  "  John  James  Rousseau  was  born  here  on  the  28th 
of  June,  1712."  A  number  of  the  original  manuscripts  of 
Rousseau,  including  that  of  his  "  Confessions,"  were  preserved 
at  Geneva,  at  the  time  of  our  visit,  in  the  possession  of  the 
son  of  the  friend  to  whom  he  bequeathed  them.  We  wrere 
promised  an  opportunity  of  inspecting  them,  but  were  acci 
dentally  prevented  from  availing  ourselves  of  it.  Rousseau 
describes  his  own  mode  of  writing  as  extremely  laborious,  and 
speaks  of  his  manuscripts  as  being  "  full  of  erasures  and  blots, 
and  undecipherable."  The  manuscript  of  the  Confessions 
was  represented  to  us,  as  being  in  his  own  hand,  written  with 
great  neatness,  and  entirely  free  from  erasures  and  blots.  It 
was  of  course  a  fair  copy,  written  out  by  himself.  The  direc 
tions  given  by  him,  that  his  autobiography  should  be  pub 
lished  as  written,  without  alteration  or  retrenchment,  were, 
it  seems,  to  some  extent  disobeyed,  by  the  omission  of  pas 
sages  too  gross  to  see  the  light.  It  would  have  been  well  for 
his  good  name  if  these  scruples  had  been  carried  further. 
One  apology, — a  wretched  one,  it  is  true — may  be  made  for 
some  of  the  details  of  his  book,  in  which  the  frailties  of  others 
are  meanly  divulged  in  connection  with  his  own.  His  inten 
tion  was  that  the  publication  should  not  take  place  till  1800, 
and  when  he  probably  thought  that  all  those  whose  names 
were  introduced  by  him  would  have  passed  away.  It  ap 
peared,  however,  the  first  part  in  1781,  three  years  after  his 
death,  and  the  second  in  1788.  The  injurious  effects  of  its 
disclosures,  or  what  purport  to  be  such,  on  the  characters  of 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  399 

others  were  in  a  great  degree  neutralized  by  the  generally 
prevailing  impression  that  no  statement  made  by  him  is  en 
titled  to  belief,  which  rests  merely  on  his  own  authority.  It 
has  been  shown  in  some  cases  that  the  whole  truth  was  not 
told  by  him,  even  in  reference  to  breaches  of  morality  con 
fessed  by  himself,  and  where  the  frankness  of  the  admission 
might  seem  to  challenge  belief. 

The  best  apology  to  be  made  for  the  life  as  for  the  writ 
ings  of  Eousseau  is,  that  he  was  partially  insane.  Such 
seems  to  have  been  the  opinion  of  the  most  renowned  of  his 
admirers.  In  Byron's  poetical  apotheosis  of  Rousseau,  he 
says : — 

"  But  he  was  frenzied, — wherefore  who  may  know? 
Since  cause  might  be  which  skill  could  never  find ; 
But  he  was  frenzied  by  disease  or  woe, 
To  that  worst  pitch  of  all,  that  wears  a  reasoning  show." 

No  other  theory  so  well  explains  his  character  as  a  writer 
and  as  a  man ;  and  this  I  am  aware  is  only  saying  in  other 
words  that  they  admit  no  rational  explanation  or  defence.  It 
is  doubtful  whether  the  last  century,  so  fertile  in  France  of 
publications  adapted  to  deprave  the  public  taste  and  poison 
the  minds  of  the  young  of  both  sexes,  produced  any  thing 
worse  than  the  writings  of  Rousseau.  He  had  too  much  dis 
cernment, — if  entitled  to  be  called  a  rational  being,  to  be 
unconscious  himself  that  this  was  the  character  and  tendency 
of  his  writings  ;  and  yet  when  Voltaire,  not  yet  his  enemy,  at 
the  time  of  the  persecutions  occasioned  by  the  appearance  of 
Emile  offered  its  author  an  Asylum  at  Ferney,  Rousseau, 
with  affected  candor,  replied,  "  I  do  not  love  you,  you  have 
corrupted  my  republic  in  giving  it  a  theatre."  Such  was  the 
edifying  anxiety  of  the  author  of  the  New  Eloise  for  the  mor 
als  of  the  young  men  and  women  of  Geneva  !  On  one  occa 
sion  a  person  introduced  himself  in  the  following  manner  : 
"  You  see  before  you  a  father  who  has  educated  his  son 


400  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

agreeably  to  the  principles  in  your  Emile."  Rousseau's  reply 
was  "  So  much  the  worse  for  you  and  your  son  1 " — It  seems 
to  have  been  the  design  of  Providence  to  furnish  in  the  con 
duct  and  in  the  autobiography  of  Rousseau,  an  all-sufficient 
antidote  for  the  poison  of  his  writings. 

Voltaire's  residence  at  Fernex,  or  Ferney,  as  it  is  usually 
written,  is  about  six  miles  from  Geneva,  and  just  within  the 
limits  of  France.  After  his  quarrel  with  Frederic  the  Great, 
and  a  temporary  residence  at  Lausanne  and  at  Les  Delices  (a 
villa  which  still  bears  that  name,  and  which  you  pass  on  the 
way  from  Geneva  to  Ferney)  he  established  himself  at  this 
last  named  place,  where  he  lived  en  grand  seigneur  for  twenty 
years,  till  his  triumphant  return  to  Paris.  There  is  but  little 
natural  beauty  about  it,  though  it  enjoys  a  distant  view  of  the 
lake.  Whatever  must  be  said  unfortunately  of  Voltaire's  po 
litical  or  religious  influence,  he  was  a  beneficent  landlord,  and 
built  up  Ferney,  which  before  his  time  was  a  small  poverty- 
stricken  hamlet,  into  a  large  and  prosperous  village.  The 
mansion,  Chateau,  (castle,)  as  with  some  latitude  of  applica 
tion  it  is  usually  called,  is  a  large,  and  may  have  been  in 
other  times  a  somewhat  imposing,  residence ;  but  it  had  in 
1818  a  forlorn  and  dilapidated  appearance.  There  was  a 
small  chapel  on  the  left  as  you  enter  the  enclosure  which  is 
said  to  have  borne  the  inscription  Deo  erexit  Voltaire,  and 
sometimes  given  in  French  a  Dieu  Voltaire*  This  inscrip 
tion,  if  it  ever  existed,  has  long  since  disappeared.  It  is  said 
to  have  been  obliterated  during  the  French  Revolution. 

We  were  shown  Voltaire's  bedroom,  and  told  that  we  saw 
it  as  he  left  it.  In  size  it  may  be  eleven  or  twelve  feet  by 
fifteen  or  sixteen ;  it  is  on  the  ground  floor,  and  was  scantily 
and  meanly  furnished.  The  chair  coverings  and  curtains  were 
of  silk,  once  blue,  much  faded,  and  greatly  mutilated  by  trav 
elling  virtuosi,  for  whose  benefit  no  doubt  they  are  from  time 

*  "  Erected  by  Volfairc  in  honor  of  God." 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  401 

to  time  renewed.  The  bed  is  a  single  one  of  very  ordinary 
materials  and  appearance.  Directly  over  the  bed  inside 
hangs  the  portrait  of  the  celebrated  actor,  Le  Kain,  the  great 
reformer  of  the  French  stage,  to  whom  Voltaire  felt  under 
special  obligations  for  having  contributed  to  the  success  of  his 
plays,  by  the  spirit  and  naturalness  of  his  acting.  On  one 
side  of  the  bed  is  a  likeness  in  crayon  of  Frederic  the  Great, 
and  on  the  other  of  Voltaire  himself.  The  indignities  which 
he  suffered  from  his  royal  patron  did  not  make  him  wish  to 
have  their  friendly  relations  forgotten.  On  the  side  of  the 
room,  as  you  enter,  is  a  strange  kind  of  monument  erected  to 
him,  in  a  sort  of  coarse  porcelain,  by  his  adopted  daughter, 
Madame  de  Villette.  It  contained  the  heart  of  Voltaire,  with 
the  inscription  in  French,  "  His  spirit  is  everywhere,  his 
heart  is  here."  In  the  French  Revolution  the  heart  was 
removed  to  the  Pantheon  at  Paris.  Nothing  can  be  in  worse 
taste  than  this  memorial.  On  the  same  side  of  the  room  is  a 
portrait  of  the  Empress  Catharine  II.  of  Russia,  wrought  in 
needle-work  by  herself  and  presented  to  Voltaire ;  an  engrav 
ing  of  Pope  Clement  the  XIV.,  and  of  Voltaire's  favorite 
Savoyard  servant.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  room  is  a 
portriat  of  Madame  de  Chatelet ;  and  on  the  fourth,  on  one 
side  of  the  window,  are  engravings  of  the  family  of  the  unfor 
tunate  Galas,  of  Delille,  under  which  is  written,  in  Voltaire's 
hand — 

"  Nulli  flebilior  quam  tibi,  Yirgili,"  * 

of  Diderot,  Newton,  and  Franklin,  (these  in  one  row,)  and 
under  them  Racine,  Milton,  WASHINGTON,  and  Corneille ;  and 
on  the  other  side  of  the  window,  in  one  row,  Thomas,  Leib 
nitz,  Dortons  de  Maire,  and  d'Alembert,  and  under  these 
Helvetius  and  Marmontel,  with  an  emblematic  engraving  of 
the  monument  of  Voltaire,  placed  there  after  his  death. 
These  paintings  and  engravings  are  here  enumerated  as  we 

*  "  Lamented  by  no  one  more  than  by  thee,  O  Virgil." 


402  THE  MOUNT  VEKNOX  PAPEKS. 

saw  them  in  1818.  Other  lists  are  given,  and  it  is  very  like 
ly  that  changes  have  been  made  in  the  course  of  the  eighty- 
one  years  which  have  elapsed  since  his  death,  during  which 
the  Chateau  has  been  the  property  of  several  owners.  In  the 
garden  was  a  monument  of  wood,  erected  in  honor  of  Voltaire 
by  one  of  his  admirers,  covered  with  votive  inscriptions  ;  and 
in  the  gardener's  house  an  album  was  shown  us  containing  the 
seals  of  Voltaire's  correspondents  separated  from  the  letters, 
with  the  names  of  the  writers  placed  under  them  in  Voltaire's 
hand.  The  aged  gardener,  who  spoke  with  great  respect  of 
the  memory  of  his  illustrious  employer,  gave  us  some  speci 
mens  of  the  seals  and  of  Voltaire's  writing,  from  this  book. 
As  the  same  favor  was  extended  by  a  descendant  of  the  gar 
dener  a  few  years  ago  to  one  of  my  children,  and  has  been  no 
doubt  to  an  entire  intervening  generation  of  travellers,  the 
album  and  its  contents  may  be  supposed  to  be  endowed  with 
some  self-renewing  property. 

It  is,  of  course,  impossible  from  its  present  desolate 
appearance,  after  moth  and  rust,  and  time  and  tourists,  arid 
invading  armies  and  revolutions  have  done  their  worst  upon 
the  Chateau  and  its  belongings,  to  form  an  idea  of  what  Fer- 
ney  may  have  been  in  Voltaire's  time,  when  it  was  the  seat 
of  a  profuse  hospitality  ;  of  entertainments  at  which  two 
hundred  sat  at  table  at  once ;  when  plays  were  performed  in 
his  private  theatre,  in  which  he  himself  took  part ;  and  he,  the 
most  popular  writer  of  the  day,  was  the  centre  of  attraction 
to  a  throng,  in  which  the  most  distinguished  persons  of  all 
countries  were  eager  to  mingle.  When  Mr.  Fox  saw  him, 
which  was  a  "  long  time  ago,"  he  "  lived  in  great  elegance." 
Voltaire  was  immensely  rich,  and  though  methodical  in  the 
management  of  his  property,  scattered  his  income  with  a  free 
hand.  Beyond  the  circle  of  his  immediate  dependants,  he 
was  not  a  favorite  in  the  community.  In  Geneva,  his  infidel 
principles,  and  the  profligacy  of  some  of  his  poetical  writings, 
combined  with  the  aristocratic  state  which  he  kept  up,  to 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPEKS.  403 

make  him  an  object  of  universal  dislike.  He  had  succeeded 
as  little  as  Eousseau,  in  corrupting  the  simple  manners  and 
depraving  the  austere  morals  of  the  miniature  republic.  He 
repaid  the  aversion  of  his  neighbors  with  sarcasms  upon  the 
limited  dimensions  of  their  territory.  "  When  I  shake  my 
wig,"  he  was  accustomed  to  say,  "  I  powder  the  whole  repub 
lic."  The  shabby  magnificence  and  tawdry  and  faded  splen 
dors  of  Ferney  are  not  out  of  keeping  with  their  master's 
career ;  in  which  you  know  not  which  most  to  wonder  at ; 
the  astonishing  versatility  and  vigor  of  the  natural  endow 
ments,  or  the  miserably  inconsequential  and  ephemeral  results. 
It  was  the  great  and  avowed  aim  of  Voltaire's  life  and  writings 
to  destroy  the  popular  faith  in  the  Christian  Religion.  His 
works,  constructed  with  that  main  object  in  view,  and  with 
the  utmost  boldness  of  direct  attack  and  skill  of  covert  and 
adroit  insinuation,  attained  a  contemporary  reputation,  which 
no  other  writings  of  the  same  description  perhaps  ever  pos 
sessed.  Besides  this,  his  theories  and  speculations  were 
reduced  to  practice,  and  his  godless  ribaldry  turned  into 
ghastly  realities,  by  the  only  great  political  movement  in 
the  world  ever  built  on  the  negation  of  religious  respon 
sibility  ;  and  yet  by  the  mysterious  working  together  of 
things,  in  the  disposal  of  an  all-wise  Providence,  there  per 
haps  never  was  a  time  since  the  primitive  conversion  of 
France  to  Christianity,  when  it  was  more  generally  treated 
throughout  that  country  with  outward  respect,  than  at  the 
present  day,  and  when,  as  far  as  we  have  a  right  to  judge, 
it  was  more  cordially  embraced  by  the  mass  of  the  people, 
as  a  system,  a  rule,  a  comfort,  and  a  hope. 

A  short  distance  from  Geneva,  on  the  western  side  of  the 
Lake,  lies  Coppet,  famous  as  the  residence  of  M.  and  Madame 
Neckar,  and  their  still  more  celebrated  daughter,  Madame  de 
Stae'l.  The  room  in  which  she  is  said  to  have  written 
Corirme,  her  desk  and  inkstand,  are  shown  to  the  traveller. 
The  present  generation  can  hardly  form  an  adequate  idea  of 


4:04:          THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

the  celebrity  of  this  lady  as  a  writer  and  a  politician.  Her 
father's  reputation  as  a  financier,  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
French  revolution,  the  popularity  of  the  daughter's  romances, 
especially  Corinne,  whose  laurel  wreath  was  supposed  to  have 
been  woven  with  autobiographical  sympathy,  her  proscription 
by  Napoleon,  her  European  fame  as  a  conversationist,  her 
courage  in  undertaking,  even  with  the  intelligent  guidance  of 
August  Schlegel,  an  exhaustive  survey  of  the  philosophy  and 
literature  of  Germany,  of  which  very  little  was  known  at  that 
time  either  in  France  or  England,  and  the  masculine  shrewd 
ness  and  eloquence  of  her  speculations  on  the  French  revolu 
tion  had  earned  for  her  a  most  brilliant  name  in  England  and 
in  this  country.  I  had  letters  to  her  from  persons  whom  she 
held  in  great  respect,  whose  names  I  record  with  melancholy 
satisfaction, — Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris,  Mr.  Gallatin,  and  Mr. 
Clay  j  but  her  illustrious  career  was  closed  the  year  before  I 
went  to  France.  The  letters  procured  me  a  most  amiable  re 
ception,  from  the  surviving  members  of  her  family,  the  Baron 
August  de  Stae'l,  and  from  her  son-in-law  and  daughter,  the 
Duke  and  Duchess  de  Broglie,  whose  salons  were  the  centre 
of  the  most  refined  and  intellectual  circles  of  .Paris.  Mr. 
Gouverneur  Morris,  as  the  American  Minister  at  Paris  in 
1792,  was  on  terms  of  familiar  intimacy  at  M.  Neckar's 
house.  Madame  de  Stae'l  in  her  Germany  calls  him  "  Un 
Americain  fort  spiritual,"  (a  very  ingenious  American,)  and 
quotes  with  applause  his  remark  that  "  the  French  had  gone 
beyond  liberty." 

It  took  us  the  better  part  of  the  day  to  reach  Lausanne, 
starting  from  Geneva  in  the  morning  and  passing  by  Coppet, 
Niort,  Eolle,  and  Morges.  The  first  thing  to  be  done  at  Lau 
sanne  is,  of  course,  to  visit  Gibbon's  house,  where  he  passed 
much  of  his  life  and  wrote  his  great  monumental  history.  It 
was  with  some  difficulty  that  we  got  a  direction  to  it  from 
our  hotel,  and  from  the  servant  who  conducted  us  through  the 
premises  we  received  the  satisfactory  intelligence  that  Mr. 


THE    MOUNT    VERJSTON    PAPERS.  405 

Gibbon  formerly  lived  there,  but  was  now  dead.  The  house, 
stands  high  on  a  terrace,  commanding  a  fine  view  of  the  Lake, 
which  appears  to  greater  advantage  here  than  at  Geneva. 
The  ornamental  trees  in  front  of  the  house  have  been  cut 
down,  and  the  grounds  planted  with  fruit  trees,  were  in  1818 
entirely  unpicturesque.  The  principal  rooms  on  the  lower 
floor  of  the  house  had  been  converted  into  the  counting-rooms 
of  its  proprietor,  who  was  a  man  of  business.  A  long  stair 
case  of  stone,  inside  the  house,  conducts  you  to  the  terrace  or 
garden,  which  is  long  and  narrow.  At  its  extremity,  in  a 
grove  of  dwarf  beech  trees,  is  a  sort  of  summer-house  occu 
pied  by  Gibbon  as  a  study.  On  various  places  on  the  walls 
of  this  apartment,  as  on  the  surrounding  trees,  were  nailed 
small  pieces  apparently  of  tin,  painted  white,  (they  may  have 
been  canvass,)  on  which  were  printed  striking  passages  and 
mottoes  principally  from  the  Latin  Poets.  Their  appearance 
was  far  from  being  tasteful. 

It  was  in  this  summer-house,  as  he  informs  us  in  his  auto 
biography,  that,  on  the  27th  of  June,  1787,  between  the  hours 
of  eleven  and  twelve,  he  wrote  the  last  lines  of  the  last  page 
of  his  great  work.  "  After  laying  down  my  pen,"  he  adds, 
"  I  took  several  turns  in  a  berceau  or  covered  walk  of  acacias, 
which  commands  a  prospect  of  the  country,  the  lake,  and  the 
mountains.  The  air  was  temperate,  the  sky  was  serene,  the 
silver  orb  of  the  moon  was  reflected  from  the  waves,  and  all 
nature  was  silent." 

That  was  indeed  one  of  the  great  moments  in  the  intellec 
tual  history  of  man,  when  the  foretaste  of  an  immortal  name 
is  enjoyed  by  a  master  spirit.  It  breathed  a  tenderness  into 
the  somewhat  gross  and  cynical  temperament  of  Gibbon. 
There  is  a  curious  association  of  Gibbon's  literary  career  with 
the  diffusion  of  the  English  language  in  this  country.  He 
had  early  in  life  lived  a  good  deal  on  the  continent,  and  under 
the  impression  that  French  was  to  be  the  universal  tongue, 
wrote  his  first  Essay  in  that  language.  He  sent  a  copy  of  it 


406  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

to  David  Hume,  who  wrote  him  in  1767,  in  acknowledgment 
of  it,  as  follows  :  "  Why  do  you  compose  in  French,  and 
carry  '  faggots  into  the  wood,'  as  Horace  says  with  regard  to 
Komans,  who  wrote  in  Greek  ?  I  grant  that  you  have  a  like 
motive  to  those  Romans,  and  adopt  a  language  much  more 
generally  diffused  than  your  native  tongue.  But  have  you  not 
remarked  the  fate  of  those  two  ancient  languages  in  following 
ages  ?  The  Latin,  though  then  less  celebrated,  and  confined 
to  more  narrow  limits,  has  in  some  measure  outlived  the 
Greek,  and  is  now  more  generally  understood  by  men  of  let 
ters.  Let  the  French,  therefore,  triumph  in  the  present  diffu 
sion  of  their  tongue.  Our  solid  and  increasing  establishments 
in  AMERICA  where  we  need  less  dread  the  inundation  of  bar 
barians,  promise  a  superior  stability  and  duration  to  the  Eng 
lish  language  !  " 

What  a  contrast  between  these  sensible  remarks  of  Hume 
and  the  sneers  of  English  tourists  and  critics  on  the  state  of 
the  English  language  as  written  and  spoken  in  America  ! 


NUMBEE   FOKTY-FIVE. 

FROM  LAUSANNE  TO  FREYBURG. 

General  Laharpe,  the  instructor  of  the  Emperor  Alexander — Origin  of  the  Holy  Al 
liance — Schools  at  Lausanne  and  the  neighborhood— Scenery — Eoad  to  Yevay — 
Vineyards— Church  of  St.  Martin  at  Vevay— General  Ludlow's  monument— Fate 
of  the  regicides— Scenery  at  Yevay — Clarens — Chillon — Its  dungeons— Burke's 
judgment  of  Rousseau's  writings— Moudon — Payerne — Bertha's  saddle — Freyburg 
— Local  description — The  ancient  Linden — Strange  bas-relief  at  the  cathedral — 
Point  of  junction  of  the  French  and  German  languages — Suspension  bridge. 

THE  Cathedral  at  Lausanne  is  one  of  the  most  important 
buildings  of  this  class  in  Switzerland.  Its  interior  presents 
points  of  architectural  interest  and  singularity  which  have  at 
tracted  much  attention  from  the  students  of  mediaeval  art ; 
but  it  has  suffered  by  the  changes  required  for  the  convenience 
of  the  simpler  forms  of  Protestant  worship.  The  sepulchral 
monuments  contained  in  it  extend  from  the  reign  of  Henry 
the  Third  of  England  to  the  last  generation.,  and  cover  all  the 
varieties  of  human  fortune  from  the  crown  and  the  tiara  to 
the  fireside  of  private  life. 

We  had  the  opportunity  and  satisfaction  of  becoming  ac 
quainted  at  Lausanne  with  General  Frederic  Qesar  Laharpe, 
the  instructor  and  friend  of  the  Emperor  Alexander  of  Russia. 
This  distinguished  gentleman,  a  native  of  the  Canton  de  Vaud, 
found  himself  in  St.  Petersburg  in  early  life  ;  and  having  be 
come  known  to  the  Empress  Catharine,  gained  her  confidence 
so  completely  that  she  confided  to  him  the  education  of  her 
grandsons,  Alexander  and  Constantine.  After  they  had  out- 


408  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

grown  his  tutelage,  he  returned  to  his  native  country  ;  but 
his  salary  and  liberal  gratuities  from  the  Emperor  were  con 
tinued  to  the  end  of  his  life.  After  his  return  to  Switzerland, 
he  took  a  very  active  part  in  public  affairs  on  the  liberal  side. 
He  retained  the  friendship  of  the  Emperor  Alexander  to  the 
last,  and  is  supposed  to  have  exercised  an  influence  with  him 
greatly  to  the  advantage  of  his  country,  in  the  territorial  ar 
rangements  at  Paris  and  at  the  Congress  of  Vienna. 

He  spoke  to  us  with  great  warmth  of  the  amiable  personal 
qualities  of  Alexander,  and  thought  his  political  principles 
were  liberal  and  generous.  He  said,  by  way  of  pleasantry, 
that  he  feared  he  had  got  into  bad  company  at  the  Congress 
of  Sovereigns  at  Aix-la-Chapelle ;  but  he  was  sure  that,  as  far 
as  depended  upon  him,  nothing  would  be  attempted  against 
the  gradual  extension  of  liberal  ideas  in  Europe.  General 
Laharpe  denied  all  foundation  to  the  rumors  current  at  that 
time,  that  the  political  course  of  the  Emperor  Alexander  had 
been  shaped  under  the  influence  of  the  celebrated  Madame 
von  Krudener.  He  said  that  the  Emperor  had  ever  evinced 
great  susceptibility  to  religious  impressions,  and  that  the 
wonderful  events  of  1805-1815,  during  which  period  he  had 
passed,  as  the  Emperor  of  Russia  from  the  lowest  point  of 
adversity,  for  himself  and  his  Empire,  to  the  foremost  posi 
tion  in  Christendom,  had  given  great  warmth  and  strength  to 
his  convictions  and  feelings  on  the  subject  of  an  overruling 
Providence.  It  was  these  convictions  and  feelings,  in  the 
opinion  of  General  Laharpe,  which  led  the  Emperor  to  under 
take,  in  conjunction  with  the  Emperor  of  Austria  and  the 
King  of  Prussia,  the  formation  of  the  Holy  Alliance  in  1815  ; 
but  he  \vould  not  allow  that  it  was  in  any  degree  inspired  by 
the  religious  exhortations  of  Madame  von  Krudener,  to  which, 
however,  he  did  not  deny  that  Alexander  was  fond  of  listen 
ing.  The  son  of  this  eccentric  lady  was  for  several  years  the 
respectable  minister  of  Russia  at  Washington.  I  enjoyed  an 
intimate  acquaintance  with  him,  and  I  may,  without  impropri- 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNX)N  PAPERS.  409 

ety,  add,  that  his  statements  on  this  subject  coincided  with 
those  of  General  Laharpe. 

Great  improvements,  I  understand,  have  been  made  at 
Lausanne  since  my  visit  there  in  1818.  It  has  at  all  times 
been  an  attractive  residence  for  foreigners,  especially  the  Rus 
sians  and  English.  Many  American  boys  have  of  late  years 
been  sent  to  the  schools  of  this  and  of  other  places  in  Switzer 
land,  under  the  mistaken  impression,  that  a  better  education 
is  to  be  had  abroad  than  at  home.  This  is  not  the  case,  ex 
cept  as  far  as  the  acquisition  of  a  foreign  language  goes. 
French  and  German  can  of  course  be  best  learned  in  countries 
where  they  are  spoken ;  and  music  is  more  generally  taught 
in  the  schools  of  Continental  Europe  than  in  those  of  the 
United  States  ;  but  up  to  the  age  at  which  boys  are  usually 
sent  to  college  in  this  country,  as  good  an  education  can  be 
obtained  in  America  as  in  Germany,  France,  or  England.  I 
make  this  remark  with  some  confidence,  from  personal  obser 
vation  in  each  of  those  countries. 

The  views  from  the  heights  above  Lausanne  are  surpass 
ingly  beautiful.  There  is,  I  think,  no  part  of  the  shores  of 
the  Lake  where  it  is  seen  to  greater  advantage ;  no  part  of 
Switzerland,  so  far  as  I  have  seen  it,  where  the  prospect  on  all 
sides  is  finer.  The  distant  Alps,  glimpses  of  the  valley  of  the 
Rhone  beyond  the  Lake,  the  beautiful  expanse  of  the  Lake  it 
self,  the  nearer  views  of  the  Bernese  Alps,  and  Jura,  the 
surrounding  country  filled  with  villages  and  covered  with 
farms  and  vineyards  combine  to  form  a  landscape  of  infinite 
variety  and  grace. 

From  Lausanne  to  Vcvay  is  about  a  couple  of  hours 
drive.  The  road  is  lined  with  vineyards,  which  cover  the 
slopes  of  the  hills  to  the  very  top  ;  and  give  an  appearance 
to  the  country  not  unlike  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  with  no  dif 
ference  but  that  between  river  and  lake.  The  culture  of  the 
vine  has  been  established  in  the  neighborhood  of  Vevay  from 
the  time  of  the  Romans.  The  climate  and  soil  do  not  admit 
18 


410  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

the  growth  of  the  most  generous  wines  ;  but  those  which  are 
produced  at  all  are  cultivated,  I  wras  told,  with  greater  cer 
tainty  of  a  crop,  than  the  more  delicate  vintages  of  Burgundy 
and  Bordeaux.  It  was  principally  from  Vevay  that  the  cul 
ture  of  the  grape  was  introduced  by  Swiss  emigrants  into  this 
country,  where  it  bids  fair  to  become  a  very  important  branch 
of  industry,  The  banks  of  the  Ohio,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Cincinnati,  bear  a  striking  general  resemblance  to  those  of  the 
Rhine,  and  are  probably  as  favorable  to  the  growth  of  the 
grape. 

We  visited  the  Church  of  St.  Martin,  which  stands  on  the 
outskirts  of  Vevay,  and  is  pleasantly  sheltered  by  vines  and 
trees.  It  is  here  that  General  Ludlow  and  some  of  his  repub 
lican  associates  are  buried  ;  others  rest  in  the  soil  of  Amer 
ica  ;  others  perished  on  the  scaffold  at  home.  The  great 
regicide  of  all  died  in  his  bed ;  but  his  skull,  or  what  is 
believed  to  be  such,  after  having  been  exposed  at  Temple  bar, 
is  exhibited  in  the  Ashmolean  Museum  at  Oxford.  He  him 
self  has  been  pronounced,  by  her  most  eloquent  historian,  to 
be  the  greatest  prince  that  ever  ruled  England,  and  Hume 
admits  in  substance,  that  she  is  indebted  for  the  preservation 
of  her  liberties  to  the  party  in  Church  and  State  which 
brought  Charles  the  First  to  the  block  ! 

The  situation  of  Vevay,  upon  the  whole,  seemed  to  me 
the  finest  on  the  Lake.  There  is  nowhere  so  much  variety 
and  composition  in  the  landscape.  The  country  about  Ge 
neva  subsides  into  the  broad  valley  of  the  Ehone ;  it  is  pleas 
ing  but  not  picturesque.  At  Vevay  it  comes  up  to  the  walls 
of  the  city,  in  the  shape  of  luxuriant  vineyards  on  the  slopes 
of  the  hills,  and  of  elegant  villas,  while  the  narrowness  of  the 
Lake,  without  impairing  the  charm  of  the  water  view,  enriches 
the  scene  with  the  wdld  romantic  rocks  of  the  opposite  shore. 
Something  is  added  to  the  liveliness  of.  the  landscape  by  the 
bustle  of  a  miniature  commerce,  produced  by  a  little  fleet  of 
boats  at  the  quay,  rigged  with  lateen  sails  and  loaded  with 


THE  MOUNT  YEKNON  PAPERS.  411 

lime  to  go  down  the  lake.  Vevay  and  Lausanne  are  in  the 
Canton  de  Vaud,  first  separately  organized  as  such  in  1814. 

From  Vevay  is  but  about  a  league  and  a  half  to  the  Castle 
of  Chillon,  on  which  Byron  has  bestowed  a  portion  of  his  im 
mortality  ;  on  the  way  to  it  we  passed  through  Clarens,  a 
small  but  not  attractive  village,  to  which  Rousseau  has  im 
parted  a  portion  of  his.  His  admirers  endeavor  to  identify  it 
with  his  descriptions,  and  the  Handbook  declares  that  "  the 
spot  where  the  beautiful  bosquet  de  Julie  (Julia's  bower)  is 
sought  for,  is  now  a  potato  field."- — I  must  confess  the  ques 
tion  whether  the  topography  of  a  licentious  French  novel, 
however  celebrated,  is  accurately  described  from  nature,  did 
not  seem  to  me  one  that  would  reward  a  very  laborious  in 
quiry.  The  position  is  magnificent ; — the  view  of  the  Lake, 
of  the  valley  of  the  Rhone,  and  the  mountains  beyond  is  fine, 
but  the  village  itself  altogether  uninviting.  Lord  Byron  has 
clothed  it  with  the  charm  of  some  of  his  most  exquisite  stan 
zas  ;  and  his  poetry  and  Rousseau's  prose  will  no  doubt 
continue  to  make  the  fortune  of  Clarens  with  all  sentimental 
travellers. 

Chillon  is  an  ancient  castle,  built  upon  an  insulated  rock 
in  the  Lake,  but  very  near  the  shore,  to  which  it  is  joined  by 
a  wooden  bridge.  The  water  is  said  to  be  of  great  depth  be 
neath  the  walls  of  the  castle ;  but  M.  Simond  makes  it  pretty 
clear,  that  the  dungeon  floor  is  not,  as  is  generally  supposed, 
beneath  the  level  of  the  lake.  Chillon  was  used  as  a  State's 
prison  by  the  Dukes  of  Savoy.  The  principal  apartment  is 
large  and  lofty,  and  not  destitute  of  air  and  light.  There  is  a 
ring  bolted  into  one  of  the  pillars,  by  which  Bonnevard  is 
supposed  to  have  been  confined  from  1530  to  1536,  and  the 
floor  near  it  is  worn,  according  to  tradition,  by  his  continued 
pacing  up  and  down.  M.  Simond  thinks  the  traditions  in 
consistent  with  each  other ;  but  it  does  not  appear  that  the 
chain  may  not  have  been  long  enough  to  allow  the  prisoner 
to  walk  a  moderate  distance,  backward  and  forward.  The 


4:12  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

dungeon  is  frightful  to  contemplate.  Its  only  entrance  was 
by  a  trap-door.  This  being  opened,  a  spiral  staircase  of  three 
steps  presented  itself;  there  was  no  fourth  step,  and  the  mise 
rable  victim,  condemned  to  perish  in  this  way,  was  precipi 
tated  to  a  depth  of  eighty  feet  and  never  heard  of  more.  I 
give  this  to  the  reader,  as  I  have  it  myself,  on  the  faith  of  the 
guide.  Such  dungeons,  called  oubliettes,  are  not  without  ex 
ample  in  the  mediaeval  prisons.  In  the  ancient  palace  of  the 
Popes  at  Avignon.  I  saw  one  which  had  been  broken  open 
and  its  horrid  secrets  brought  to  light,  in  the  French  Rev 
olution. 

The  valley  of  the  Rhone  begins  to  open  upon  you  at 
Chillon,  but  at  first  with  no  attractiveness.  The  river  enters 
the  Lake  through  a  broad  alluvial  plain,  formed  by  its  own 
deposits.  Its  waters  are  turbid,  its  current  sluggish  ;  it  is  in 
all  respects  the  reverse  of  itself  as  it  issues  from  the  Lake. 
Historically,  the  spot  is  remarkable  as  the  scene  of  the  mem 
orable  battle,  alluded  to  in  the  forty-first  Number  of  these 
papers,  in  which  Divico,  the  first  Helvetian  chieftain  whose 
name  appears  in  history,  defeated  a  Roman  Consular  army, 
and  compelled  it  to  pass  under  the  yoke. 

The  road  from  Lausanne  westward,  is  somewhat  less  pic 
turesque  than  that  which  lies  along  the  Lake.  Vineyards  now 
disappear,  but  their  place  is  taken  by  cornfields,  pastures, 
orchards,  and  woodlands.  There  is  a  continual  succession  of 
hill  and  valley ;  the  farms  are  divided  by  hedge-rows  and 
dotted  with  cottages.  There  is  a  more  domestic  and  home 
like  look  about  such  a  country,  than  in  one  lined  with  vine 
yards  ;  a  species  of  culture  which  implies  a  less  equal  division 
of  property.  We  breakfasted  at  Moudon,  which  stands  on 
the  site  of  a  very  ancient  Roman  Colony  (Miniclunum)  of 
whose  name  it  preserves  an  abbreviated  form.  In  a  niche  on 
the  outside  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  we  saw  an  ancient  altar, 
which  was  discovered  in  1732.  Its  inscription,  with  a  dedi 
cation  to  Marius  Aurelius,  sets  forth  that  it  was  erected  in 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEKS.  413 

honor  of  Jupiter  and  Juno,  in  commemoration  of  a  large  sum 
of  money  bequeathed  to  the  city  to  build  a  gymnasium. 

We  made  no  other  stop,  till,  having  passed  through  a 
country  resembling  some  of  the  best  parts  of  New  England, 
we  reached  Payerne.  This  is  a  place  of  considerable  an 
tiquity,  having  been  founded  in  the  sixth  century.  It  was 
distinguished  by  the  benefactions  of  Bertha  the  sovereign  of 
Burgundy  ;  and  her  saddle,  which  was  shown  us,  is  the  great 
wonder  and  boast  of  the  place.  It  certainly  puts  to  shame 
the  saddles  of  these  degenerate  days,  being  equally  remark 
able  for  what  it  is  not,  and  what  it  is.  It  is  evidently  not  a 
5^-saddle,  and  it  is  furnished,  in  addition  to  the  usual  appli 
ances  for  equitation,  with  a  distaff  fixed  to  the  pommel,  in 
order,  it  would  seem,  that  her  Highness  might  spin  as  she 
journeyed.  This  curious  relic  of  antiquity,  if  genuine,  must 
date  from  the  tenth  century. 

We  noticed,  throughout  this  day's  journey,  more  than  usual 
civility  on  the  part  of  persons  whom  we  happened  to  meet  on 
the  road.  Not  content  with  a  friendly  nod  or  a  touch  of  the 
hat,  it  was  generally  raised  from  the  head  with  a  courteous 
word  of  salutation.  'The  costume  of  the  female  peasantry  of 
Switzerland,  as  we  saw  it,  changed  on  passing  the  frontier  of  al 
most  every  Canton.  Such  was  the  case  on  entering  the  Canton 
of  Freyburg,  where  the  broad-brimmed  straw  hats,  with  almost 
no  crowns,  began  for  the  first  time  to  appear.  These  Can 
tonal  differences  of  costume  are,  1  am  told,  yielding  to  the 
more  powerful  influences  of  fashion.  With  their  disappear 
ance,  Switzerland  will  lose  not  a  little  of  its  picturesquencss. 

We  reached  the  city  of  Freyburg  before  night,  a  place  of 
7,000  or  8,000  inhabitants ;  the  capital  of  the  Canton  of  the 
same  name,  of  which  the  population  is  almost  exclusively 
Roman  Catholic.  There  are  not  less  than  nine  Monasteries 
and  Convents  in  the  little  city.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed, 
however,  that  their  inmates  are  all  furnished  by  the  Canton 
of  Freyburg,  of  which  the  population  does  not  exceed  90,000. 


414          THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

They  are  places  of  retreat  for  heart- stricken  men  and  solitary 
women,  from  all  parts  of  Switzerland,  and  the  neighboring 
regions  of  France  and  Germany. 

The  local  position  of  Freyburg  is  remarkable.  It  is  built 
on  the  slope  of  a  steep  promontory  formed  by  the  windings 
of  the  river  Saarine.  Many  houses  are  built  up  to  the  edge 
of  the  precipitous  bank  of  the  river.  In  some  places,  owing 
to  the  steepness  of  the  declivity,  the  street  passes  over  the 
roofs  of  houses,  excavated  in  the  solid  rock  below.  The  an 
cient  walls  are  for  the  most  part  entire,  and,  following  the 
irregularities  of  the  surface  of  the  hill,  present,  with  their 
watchtowers  and  embattled  gateways,  a  remarkable  appear 
ance.  They  are  built  of  the  greenish  sandstone  of  the  region, 
not  unlike  that  which  is  so  much  in  use  in  Cincinnati.  The 
streets  are  narrow,  the  houses  upon  them  ill-built,  and  in 
many  cases  decaying ;  and  the  look  of  the  town  in  this  re 
spect  singularly  uninviting.  Such  was  the  state  of  things  in 
1818. 

Its  greatest  curiosity  was  the  venerable  Linden  tree 
planted  on  the  22d  June,  1476,  in  commemoration  of  the 
famous  battle  of  Morat,  in  which  the  Burgundian  army,  under 
Charles  the  Bold,  was  defeated  with  tremendous  slaughter  by 
the  Swiss.  The  tradition  is  that  a  young  man,  escaping 
wounded  from  the  battle,  ran  the  whole  way  to  Freyburg  to 
bring  the  joyous  news,  and  fell  down  dead,  after  uttering  the 
word  "  Victory."  His  fellow-citizens  planted  the  Linden  twig 
which  he  carried  in  his  hand.  It  took  root,  and  has  become 
a  tree  of  twenty  feet  in  circumference.  It  is  unquestionably 
of  very  great  antiquity,  and  was  in  1818  sustained  with  props, 
and  otherwise  tended  with  care.  A  Court  for  the  adjudica 
tion  of  small  controversies  and  called  Linden-  GericJit  (Linden- 
Court)  was  formerly  held  under  its  branches.  The  Cathedral 
is  one  of  the  finest  of  the  ancient  Swiss  Churches,  and  from 
the  summit  of  its  tower  you  enjoy  a  prospect  which  well  re 
pays  the  fatigue  of  the  ascent.  There  is  a  most  extraordinary 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS.  415 

bas-relief  over  the  portal  of  the  tower,  dating  from  the  fif 
teenth  century,  and  representing  the  last  judgment  by  images 
of  the  most  grotesque  description.  We  visited  the  College 
of  Jesuits,  who,  after  being  reduced  to  one  aged  Canon,  had 
just  been  restored  by  the  majority  of  the  Cantonal  Council, 
against  the  vehement  reclamations  of  the  minority. 

Freyburg  is  remarkable  as  forming  the  point  of  junction 
between  the  German  and  the  French  languages,  the  former 
being  spoken  in  the  lower  town  and  the  latter  in  the  upper ; 
neither,  it  may  well  be  supposed,  with  purity.  In  the  patois 
of  the  peasantry  there  is  a  considerable  mixture  of  the  Ro- 
mansch  dialect,  which  in  the  middle  ages  was  spoken  in  the 
region  of  the  western  Alps.  Sept  heures  et  demi,  (half  past 
seven,)  as  spoken  by  the  postilion  who  drove  us  into  Frey- 
burg,  sounded  Skat  or  et  dmi. 

There  are  two  suspension  bridges  at  Freyburg  erected 
since  my  time,  one  of  which  is  pronounced  by  the  Hand-book 
to  be  the  largest  bridge  of  a  single  curve  in  the  world.  It  is 
supported  by  four  cables  of  1056  wires  each.  Its  length  is 
905  feet,  and  its  height  above  the  river  180.  The  bridge  at 
Menai  is  580  feet  in  length  to  a  height  of  130 ;  the  breadth 
being  respectively  22  feet  at  Freyburg  and  25  at  Menai.  The 
dimensions  of  the  suspension  bridge  below  Niagara  Falls  are 
800  feet  length,  230  feet  height  above  the  water,  and  40  feet 
width,  with  a  two-fold  roadway,  one  for  the  railroad  above  and 
one  for  ordinary  vehicles  below.  It  is  supported  by  sixteen 
wire  cables  of  1100  feet  in  length  and  a  foot  in  circumference. 
The  Freyburg  bridge  was  erected  in  eight  years,  at  the  mod 
erate  expense  of  about  120,000  dollars — the  suspension  bridge 
below  Niagara  Falls  at  a  cost  of  190,000  dollars.* 

*  Appleton's  Travellers'  Guide,  p.  214.    Edit,  of  1853. 


3STUMBEE    FORTY-SIX. 

BERNE. 

From  Freyburg  to  Berne — Change  of  costume — Appearance  of  the  city — Lofty 
parapet  wall  and  extraordinary  leap  from  it— Alpine  scenery— The  Bear  the 
heraldic  emblem  of  Berne,  and  living  bears  kept  at  the  public  expense — The 
University — Manufactures  of  Berne,  the  Messrs.  Schenck — Visit  to  the  establish 
ments  of  M.  Von  Fellenberg  at  Hofwyl — Anecdote  of  the  director  Ecubel — High 
School— Industry  School— The  celebrated  assistant  teacher  Wehrli— Agricultural 
School — M.  Von  Fellenberg's  establishments,  formerly  an  object  of  great  attention 
in  Europe. 

OUR  next  stage  was  to  Berne,  a  distance  of  about  six 
leagues.  The  road  was  fine,  running  mostly  along  the  river, 
and  often  presenting  beautiful  views  of  the  distant  mountains. 
For  the  first  part  of  the  way,  however,  we  had  a  landscape  of 
a  different  character,  but  one  familiar  in  some  portions  of  our 
own  country  ;  a  dense  forest  of  pine.  There  is  a  strongly 
marked  point  of  difference  in  the  forest  scenery  of  those  parts 
of  Europe  in  which  I  have  travelled  and  of  this  country. 
With  us,  wherever  civilization  has  penetrated,  the  primitive 
forest  has  been  assailed  with  axe  and  fire,  as  the  first  and 
greatest  obstacle  to  agricultural  improvement.  In  Europe 
the  conservation  of  the  forests  is  an  object  of  government  reg 
ulation,  and  great  care  is  taken  that  the  trees  should  not  be 
improvident!  y  cut  down.  The  management  of  forests  forms 
the  subject  of  regular  courses  of  lectures  at  the  German  Uni 
versities. 

Neueneck  is  the  name  of  the  village,  in  which  you  pass 
from  the  Canton  de  Vaud  into  that  of  Berne ;  and  here  one 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  417 

of  those  abrupt  changes  of  costume  takes  place,  to  which  I  aL 
luded  in  the  last  Number.  Instead  of  the  broad  straw  hats 
worn  in  the  Canton  de  Vaucl,  the  female  peasantry  in  the 
Canton  of  Berne  adorn  their  heads  with  a  singular  structure 
of  black  gauze  made  of  horse-hair,  standing  out  all  round,  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  resemble  wings,  and  forming  a  droll  con 
trast  with  the  red  bodice  laced  in  front. 

Berne,  as  you  approach  it,  has  the  appearance  of  a  large, 
fortified  city.  Like  Freyburg,  it  is  mainly  built  of  the  hand 
some  greenish  sandstone  already  described.  The  streets  are 
lined  with  rows  of  houses  constructed  with  arcades  on  the 
lower  story,  which  give  them  a  stately  though  rather  heavy 
appearance,  and  furnish  an  admirable  protection  against  the 
weather  ; — a  matter  of  no  small  interest  in  a  climate  like  that 
of  Switzerland.  In  fact,  it  is  somewhat  surprising  that  an 
arrangement,  possessing  such  great  and  obvious  advantages, 
both  for  summer  and  winter,  has  not  been  generally  adopted 
in  the  domestic  architecture  of  compactly  built  places.  The 
position  of  the  city  of  Berne,  on  a  promontory  enclosed  on  all 
sides  but  one  by  the  Aar,  is  very  commanding.  The  bank  is  in 
some  places  sloping  and  covered  with  turf,  in  others  steep,  cut 
into  terraces,  or  supported  by  almost  perpendicular  walls.  The 
wall  in  one  place  is  a  hundred  and  eight  feet  high,  but  an  inscrip 
tion  upon  it  sets  forth  that,  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  a  young  student  mounted  a  horse  which  was  grazing 
on  the  terrace,  and  that  the  animal,  having  been  frightened, 
leaped  to  the  bottom  of  the  bank.  The  horse  was  killed,  but 
the  rider  escaped  with  the  fracture  of  some  of  his  ribs,  and 
lived  to  an  advanced  age  as  a  village  pastor.  Two  years  be 
fore  our  visit  to  Berne,  a  woman,  employed  according  to  the 
custom  of  that  time,  in  laboring  in  the  streets  as  a  punish 
ment,  leaped  from  the  terrace  and  was  killed  on  the  spot. 

Nothing  can  exceed  the  richness  and  varied  magnificence 
of  the  views  of  the  neighboring  country  and  the  Alpine  peaks, 
as  seen  from  Berne  in  clear  weather.  From  some  points  of 
18* 


418  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

the  terraced  banks  of  the  Aar,  ten  or  twelve  lofty  summits — 
so  well  known  some  of  them  by  their  awe-inspiring  names, 
Wetterhorn,  Schreckhorn,  Finster  Aarhorn  * — may  be  dis 
tinctly  seen ;  the  Jungfrau  in  the  centre.  Vast  glaciers  fill 
the  spaces  between  these  peaks ;  that  which  surrounds  the 
Finstor  Aarhorn  is  supposed  to  be  the  largest  in  Europe. 
Its  superficial  extent  has  been  estimated  at  a  hundred  and 
twenty-five  square  miles.  The  general  effect  of  the  prospect 
varies  so  much  under  different  lights,  that  we  made  it  a  busL 
ness  to  contemplate  it  early  in  the  morning,  at  noon,  and  at 
evening.  The  last  is  by  far  the  most  favorable  part  of  the 
day  for  this  purpose.  If  the  state  of  the  atmosphere  is  pro 
pitious,  which  it  happened  to  be  once  during  our  short  stay 
in  Berne,  the  rays  of  the  setting  sun  are  reflected,  with  strange 
beauty,  from  the  snow-crowned  peaks  and  sparkling  glaciers. 
In  picturesque  variety  and  a  certain  mysterious  wildness, 
these  views  appeared  to  me  to  excel  those  of  the  Montanvert. 
The  heraldic  emblem  of  Berne,  as  its  name  would  import, 
is  taken  from  the  Bear,  probably  from  some  primitive  legend 
ary  association.  Two  animals  of  this  kind,  in  coarse  sculp 
ture,  and  of  heroic  size,  guard  the  gateway  as  you  enter  from 
Freyburg,  and  two  living  bears  are  kept  in  the  fosse  at  one 
of  the  other  gates.  This  is  in  pursuance  of  a  practice  which 
has  been  kept  up  for  centuries.  The  animals  are  supported 
at  the  public  expense,  and  are  said  to  be  superstitiously  re 
garded  by  the  masses,  as  in  some  degree  connected  with  the 
prosperity  of  the  city.  In  the  year  1798  the  bears  of  that 
day  were  transported  by  the  French  to  Paris,  and  placed  in 
the  Jardin  des  Plantes,  where  they  attracted  as  much  notice 
from  the  gamins  of  the  city  as  the  bronze  horses  from  St. 
Mark's,  placed  on  the  arch  of  triumph  in  the  Carousel,  did 
from  the  virtuosi.  Berne  is  copiously  supplied  with  running 
water  and  with  fountains.,  some  of  which  are  ornamented  with 

*  Storm  Peak,  Terror  Peak,  the  Dark  Peak  of  Aar. 


THE  MOUNT  VEBNON  PAPEKS.  419 

grotesque  sculptures.  The  bear  is  the  prevailing  subject. 
The  Kinderfresser  Brunnen  (Fountain  of  the  child-devourer) 
derives  its  name  from  a  figure,  which  the  antiquaries  suppose 
to  be  that  of  Saturn,  represented  as  crowding  a  child  into  his 
mouth,  while  others  are  peeping  from  the  pockets  in  quiet  ex 
pectation  of  their  turn. 

By  the  kindness  of  Professor  Schnell,  (to  whom  we  had 
been  furnished  with  letters  from  Mr.  Stapfer,  a  gentleman  of 
great  worth,  formerly  representing  the  Helvetic  Republic  at 
Paris,  and  still  residing  there  in  1817,)  we  had  ample  oppor 
tunity  of  visiting  the  University  of  Berne.  Mr.  Schnell  him 
self  was  one  of  three  law  professors  ;  and  there  were  fourteen 
other  professors  in  the  different  faculties,  including  three  of 
veterinary  practice  !  a  department  in  which  I  presume  there 
is  not  a  single  professor  in  all  the  Colleges  and  Universities 
of  the  United  States.  The  number  of  students  was  about  a 
hundred  and  fifty  ;  the  fixed  salaries  of  the  professors  five  or 
six  hundred  dollars  each,  with  a  small  fee  paid  by  those  who 
attend  the  lectures.  The  institution  served  as  a  place  of  aca 
demical  education  for  Bernese  students,  but  was  little  fre 
quented  from  abroad.  It  was  organized  on  the  plan  of  the 
German  Universities,  the  instruction  being  almost  wholly 
given  in  lectures.  The  celebrated  Wyttenbach  of  Leyden, 
well  known  as  the  editor  of  the  moral  works  of  Plutarch,  was 
a  native  of  Berne,  and  probably  received  his  early  education 
there.  He  was  one  of  the  most  learned  men  of  the  last  gen 
eration.  There  is  a  large  public  library  at  Berne,  of  which 
Haller,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  names  of  the  last  cen 
tury,  was  the  librarian.  The  saying  of  Voltaire,  who  used  to 
extol  his  genius  and  learning,  is  well  known,  but  will  bear 
repetition.  When  told  that  Haller  did  not  return  the  com 
pliment,  but  spoke  in  disparaging  terms  of  him,  Voltaire  re 
plied,  "  Very  likely  we  are  both  wrong." 

Berne  has  been  distinguished  at  times  for  the  prosperity 
of  her  manufactures.  They  were  languishing  in  1818  in  con- 


420  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

sequence  of  the  prohibitory  duties  imposed  on  their  introduc 
tion  into  France,  and  still  more  on  account  of  the  influx  of 
British  fabrics.  Two  persons  belonging  to  the  peasantry  and 
whose  education  was  very  defective,  of  the  name  of  Schenck, 
were  much  spoken  of  as  practical  and  scientific  machinists, 
instrument-makers,  and  engineers.  Mr.  Schnell  informed  us 
that  his  countryman  and  friend  Hassler,  who  commenced  the 
coast  survey  of  the  United  States,  and  provided  himself  for 
that  purpose  with  the  best  instruments  that  could  be  procured 
in  London,  after  examining  those  of  Messrs.  Schenck  at  Berne, 
gave  the  preference  to  the  latter.  It  is  possible  that  national 
partiality  may  have  had  something  to  do  with  this  prefer 
ence. 

During  our  stay  at  Berne,  wTe  devoted  a  day  to  visiting 
Hofwyl  and  the  educational  establishments  of  M.  Von  Fellen- 
berg.  These  establishments  and  M.  Von  Fellenberg's  plans 
for  improving  the  education  both  of  the  wealthier  classes  and 
of  the  peasantry  in  Switzerland,  attracted  great  notice  at  that 
time,  and  are  still  spoken  of  with  respect  and  interest  in  works 
on  education.  They  formed  the  subject  of  an  elaborate  and 
instructive  article,  contributed  by  Mr.  Simond  to  the  sixty- 
fourth  number  of  the  Edinburgh  Review,  which  was  much 
read  at  the  time  of  its  appearance. 

M.  Von  Fellenberg  belonged  by  birth  to  the  noblesse,  but 
partook  the  liberal  ideas  which  prevailed  so  extensively 
throughout  Switzerland,  during  the  French  Revolution,  and 
which  led  to  a  corresponding  movement  there.  He  was  one 
of  the  Commissioners,  who  represented  the  Helvetic  Republic 
at  Paris.  Being  in  conference  with  the  Director  Reubel  on 
the  condition  of  his  country,  and  the  suffering  state  to  which 
the  people  were  reduced,  threatening  an  entire  disorganization 
of  society,  the  Director,  in  a  pause  of  the  conversation,  threw 
up  his  window,  and  ordered  a  servant  "  to  bring  Finette." 
This  was  a  favorite  spaniel,  which  was  accordingly  brought  in 
with  a  litter  of  puppies,  in  a  basket.  This  levity  and  indiffer- 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  421 

ence  so  disgusted  M.  Von  Fellenberg,  that,  despairing  of 
serving  his  country  as  a  politician,  he  demanded  his  pass 
ports,  and  left  Paris  the  next  day — resolved  to  set  about  the 
slower  work  of  improving  the  condition  of  his  fellow-citizens 
by  moral  influences,  and  by  introducing  a  system  of  educa 
tion  calculated  to  make  better  patriots  and  better  men. 

His  plan  comprehended  a  high  school  for  the  aristocracy 
of  Continental  Europe ;  an  industrial  school  for  the  sons  of 
the  peasantry,  and  a  school  of  agriculture.  The  first  only,  if 
I  do  not  mistake,  was  self-supporting ; — the  Industry  School 
was  entirely  gratuitous.  The  high  school,  when  I  saw  it,  was 
attended  by  about  eighty  pupils  from  all  parts  of  the  conti 
nent — from  Russia,  Poland,  and  every  portion  of  Germany. 
The  number  of  pupils  from  the  South  of  Europe  was  small. 
M.  Von  Fellenberg  had  felt  the  want  of  such  a  school  for  his 
own  children  ;  not  thinking  the  influences  which  prevail  at  the 
gymnasia  and  universities  of  the  Continent  favorable  to  the 
formation  of  character  on  high  moral  or  even  patriotic  prin 
ciples.  All  the  branches  of  a  liberal  education — not  includ 
ing  strictly  professional  studies — were  taught  in  this  school, 
as  far  as  possible  by  instructors  who  had  themselves  been 
formed  at  Hofwyl,  and  who  united  the  most  exemplary  per 
sonal  qualities  to  skill  in  their  several  departments.  The 
young  men  were  all  boarded  and  lodged  within  the  establish 
ment,  and  M.  Von  Fellenberg  and  his  amiable  family,  the 
professors,  and  the  pupils  of  the  school  sat  down  to  their 
daily  meals  at  one  table.  In  this  branch  of  the  establishment, 
there  seemed  to  be  nothing  peculiar,  as  far  as  the  general  plan 
and  system  of  the  school  were  concerned,  but  its  management 
as  far  as  I  could  judge,  was  singularly  efficient  and  successful ; 
and  of  schools  it  may  be  said  much  more  than  of  governments 
— that  which  is  "  best  administered  is  best." 

The  Industry  School  was  at  that  time  almost  a  novelty. 
This  was  a  school  for  the  practical  instruction  of  the  children 
of  the  peasantry,  not  merely  in  the  common  branches  of  a 


4:22  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS. 

plain  education,  but  in  agriculture  and  the  various  trades  to 
which  they  are  usually  apprenticed.  M.  Von  Fellenberg  took 
pains,  as  far  as  possible,  in  the  first  years  of  the  institution,  to 
obtain  pupils  from  the  democratic  Cantons,  as  furnishing  more 
hopeful  materials  for  his  undertaking.  Serious  prejudices 
arose  against  his  establishment ;  the  Swiss  peasantry  was  not 
at  that  time  (is  not  probably  now)  predisposed  to  innovate 
upon  old  ways ;  and  as  M.  Von  Fellenberg  required  that 
the  pupils  of  his  school  should  come  at  seven  years  of  age 
and  stay  ten  years,  a  considerable  sacrifice  in  the  time  of  the 
children  was  required  of  the  parents.  M.  Von  Fellenberg 
was  obliged  at  times  to  keep  up  his  numbers  by  adding  va 
grants  from  the  streets  ;  some  of  whom,  however,  did  the  best 
justice  to  their  opportunities.  Eight  or  ten  hours  in  the  day 
were  devoted  to  labor  on  the  farm  or  in  the  shops,  according 
to  the  season,  and  the  rest  of  the  time  was  given  to  indoor 
lessons,  meals,  and  recreation,  the  children  being  entirely  sup 
ported  and  taught  at  M.  Von  F.'s  expense  ;  and  at  an  average 
cost,  over  and  above  the  product  of  their  labor,  of  sixteen  or 
seventeen  dollars  per  head  annually. 

Much  of  the  success  of  this  branch  of  M.  Von  Fellenberg's 
establishment  was  ascribed  to  the  personal  qualities  of  Wehrli 
his  assistant.  This  remarkable  young  man  was  the  son  of  a 
schoolmaster  in  the  Canton  of  Thurgau,  who  visited  Hofwyl 
in  1809,  to  learn  the  modes  of  teaching  pursued  there.  He 
was  so  much  pleased  with  \vhat  he  saw,  that  he  offered  his  son 
as  an  assistant  teacher.  He  was  -accepted  in  that  capacity, 
and  proved  himself  in  the  sequel  admirably  adapted  to  the 
place.  His  reputation  spread  with  that  of  the  Industry 
School  at  Hofwyl,  throughout  Europe.  He  soon,  of  his  own 
accord,  left  M.  Von  Fellenberg's  table,  to  share  the  meals  as 
well  as  the  labors  of  the  boys  of  the  Industry  School.  This 
he  did  with  unflinching  assiduity,  placing  himself  in  all  re 
spects  on  a  level  with  his  pupils.  He  appears  to  have  been 
a  person  of  singular  versatility  and  the  utmost  conscientious- 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  423 

ness.  He  was  but  eighteen  years  of  age  when  he  came  to 
Hofwyl. 

The  school  of  Industry  was  ruled  entirely  by  persuasion, 
example,  and  love ;  without  resort  either  to  punishment  or 
reward.  It  had  been  in  operation,  I  think,  twenty  years 
when  I  saw  it,  and  in  that  time  punishment  had  been  inflicted 
but  twice.  M.  Von  Fellenberg's  entire  system  of  education 
assumed  the  superior  efficacy  of  gentle  influences  over  the 
coercion  and  rigor  of  the  old  regime,  and  certainly  his  success 
was  such  as  to  confirm  his  theory. 

An  agricultural  school  with  shops  for  the  manufacture  of 
improved  implements  of  husbandry  formed  a  part  of  M.  Von 
Fellenberg's  establishments.  He  commenced  life  with  exper 
iments  for  an  improved  system  of  cultivation.  He  wholly 
changed  the  character  of  an  extensive  patrimonial  estate  by  a 
system  of  drainage,  by  which  from  being  an  unprofitable  bog, 
it  was  converted  into  arable  fields.  His  attention  was  next 
turned  to  the  subject  of  the  implements  of  husbandry  used  in 
Switzerland  at  that  time,  which  he  was  convinced  could  be 
made  not  only  lighter  and  more  efficient  but  cheaper,  and 
with  these  objects  in  view,  he  connected  an  agricultural  school 
with  the  educational  establishments  just  described. 

At  the  time  of  our  visit  Madame  Von  Fellenberg,  sharing 
the  noble  zeal  of  her  husband,  was,  with  her  daughters,  about 
to  found  a  school  for  girls,  corresponding  with  the  school  of 
Industry  for  boys.  I  have  never  heard  whether  this  project 
was  carried  into  effect ;  nor  am  I  acquainted  with  the  present 
condition  of  M.  Von  Fellenberg's  establishments,  except  that 
the  hand-book  states  them  to  be  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Ed 
ward  Miiller.  Education  on  philosophical  principles  has,  of 
late  years,  made  such  progress  in  Europe  and  in  this  country, 
that  the  preceding  recollections  of  Hofwyl  may  hardly  seem 
to  the  reader  entitled  to  the  place  I  have  given  them.  But, 
at  the  time  of  my  visit,  M.  Von  Fellenberg's  establishments 
were  deemed  of  the  highest  European  interest.  Perhaps  at 


424:  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS. 

any  time  a  well  conceived  plan  for  educational  improvement, 
especially  one  having  in  view  the  benefit  of  those  least  fa 
vored  of  fortune — a  plan  formed  and  pursued  by  an  intelli 
gent,  persevering,  earnest,  and  conscientious  man — is  as  im 
portant  an  object  as  can  engage  the  attention  of  the  patriot  or 
the  moralist.  When  the  Emperor  Alexander  was  in  Swit 
zerland,  he  visited  Hofwyl,  and  in  token  of  his  appreciation 
of  M.  Von  Fellenberg's  labors,  decorated  him  with  an  order 
of  knighthood.  In  this  he  honored  himself  rather  than  M. 
Von  Fellenberg,  who  daily  enjoyed  the  more  substantial  re 
ward  of  seeing  those  whom  he  had  rescued  from  want,  igno 
rance,  and  unenlightened  toil,  raised  by  his  means  to  useful 
and  honorable  positions  in  the  community. 


NUMBEK   FOKTY-SEYEN. 

THE  NINETEENTH  OF  APEIL,  1775. 

Materials  for  the  Eomance  of  our  history  scattered  through  the  country — Events  of 
the  19th  April,  1775 — Alarm  given  from  Boston  to  the  neighboring  towns — Es 
cape  of  Adams  and  Hancock  from  Lexington  to  Woburn — A  salmon  left  behind 
and  sent  for — Second  retreat  to  the  woods — Capture  of  a  prisoner  by  Sylvanus 
"Wood  on  the  19th  of  April — After  thirty  years  Wood  applies  for  and  obtains  a 
pension — Visits  Washington  and  is  introduced  to  General  Jackson — Proposed 
National  monument  at  Lexington  commemorative  of  the  19th  of  April. 

IN  times  to  come,  when  the  novelist  and  the  poet  shall 
seek  out  the  romance  of  our  history,  it  will  be  discovered,  in 
rich  abundance,  in  every  part  of  the  land.  Tracing  the  annals 
of  the  United  States,  from  the  first  settlements  at  Jamestown 
and  Plymouth,  it  will  be  found,  that,  in  addition  to  the  great 
events  and  the  great  characters,  which  form  the  substance  of 
the  public  narrative,  there  are  incidents  of  a  local  and  person 
al  kind,  not  immediately  affecting  the  political  fortunes  of  the 
country,  but  often  of  a  most  stirring  or  touching  character. 
There  is  nothing  in  ancient  or  modern  history  more  beau 
tiful  than  the  story  of  Pocahontas.  The  captivity  of  Mrs. 
Eowlandson  is  not  to  be  read  without  tears,  after  a  lapse  of 
nearly  two  centuries.  How  wonderful  the  spectral  appear 
ance  of  one  of  the  Regicide  Judges  of  Charles  I.,  to  repel  an 
assault  of  savages  on  a  New  England  village  in  1675  !  The 
life  and  adventures,  the  wars  and  the  wanderings  of  Daniel 
Boone,  in  more  recent  times,  will  furnish  one  day  the  staple 
of  an  Iliad  and  Odyssey  of  border  prowess  and  fortune  ;  and 
then  the  glimpses  of  pure  Indian  life,  as  we  catch  them  on  the 
prairie  and  in  the  wigwam,  uncontaminated  or  unrelieved  by 
the  contacts  of  civilization  ! 


426  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEES. 

The  straits  and  sufferings  of  our  forefathers,  who  first 
landed  on  the  continent ;  the  perilous  exposures  of  a  wild  fron 
tier  (and  such  a  frontier,  though  ever  flitting  westward  as  you 
approach  it,  there  has  always  been — is  now)  ; — the  military 
operations  of  the  colonies  in  the  wars  between  England  and 
France,  from  Louisburg  to  Carolina,  from  Detroit  to  the 
Spanish  Main ;  above  all  many  incidents  which  occurred  in 
the  great  struggle  for  Independence,  have  filled  the  country 
with  romantic  traditions,  many  of  which  have  already  been 
turned  to  good  account  by  ingenious  writers  of  the  present 
day,  while  others  await  the  future  poet  and  novelist.  Even 
the  ancient  churchyards  have  a  rich  harvest  in  reserve  for  our 
Old  Mortalities.  Hearts  as  brave  as  any  that  rest  under 
monuments  of  brass  and  marble  in  Westminster  Abbey 
moulder  beneath  old  moss-grown  slate  stones,  in  every  part 
of  the  United  States.  These  reminiscences  of  bye-gone  times 
are  not,  however,  all  of  a  tragic  or  even  a  serious  cast ;  some 
of  them,  on  the  contrary,  contain  the  lighter  element,  which 
is  required  to  make  up  the  tragi-comedy  of  human  fortune, 
though  sparingly  admitted  into  the  sober  pages  of  history. 
Some  traditions  of  this  latter  kind,  closely  interwoven  with 
events  of  the  greatest  gravity,  are  preserved  in  the  neighbor 
hood,  (Burlington,  Mass.,)  where  this  paper  is  written. 

Several  circumstances  led  the  patriots  in  Boston  in  the 
early  spring  of  1775,  to  anticipate  that  some  important  move 
ment  into  the  country  would  be  made  by  the  Royal  forces, 
partly  for  the  seizure  of  military  stores,  which  had  been  col 
lected  in  many  of  the  towns  in  the  interior,  partly  to  arrest 
obnoxious  individuals,  to  overawe  the  people,  and  generally 
to  subdue  the  spirit  of  disaffection.  As  early  as  November, 
1774,  a  secret  society  had  been  formed  in  Boston,  composed 
principally  of  the  mechanics  and  artisans  of  that  town,  but  in 
close  concert  with  the  patriotic  leaders,  for  the  express  pur 
pose  of  obtaining  information  in  advance  of  all  projected 
movements  of  this  kind.  Among  the  circumstances  which, 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  427 

in  the  spring  of  1775,  led  to  the  expectation  that  some  expe 
dition  into  the  country  was  meditated,  was  the  detachment, 
by  the  royal  governor  of  Massachusetts,  Gage,  of  eleven  hun 
dred  men,  who  traversed  the  neighboring  villages,  about  the 
end  of  March,  throwing  down  the  stone  walls  by  which  the 
fields,  in  that  part  of  the  country,  are  divided  and  enclosed. 
One  can  scarcely  imagine  any  thing  better  calculated  to  cause 
alarm  and  indignation,  that  being  the  season  of  the  year  in 
which  good  farmers  put  their  stone  walls  and  fences  in  order. 
Officers  in  civil  dress  were  also  sent  round  the  country,  to 
survey  the  roads  and  obtain  information  where  military  stores 
were  deposited.  A  party  came  to  Concord  in  Massachusetts, 
for  this  purpose,  on  the  20th  of  March,  1775,  the  very  day 
on  which  Burke,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  spoke  the  last 
word  of  peace  and  hope  in  the  inimitable  oration  "  on  Con 
ciliation  with  America." 

But  the  fated  hour  drew  nigh.  It  had  been  preparing  for 
centuries.  It  was  too  late  for  prudence  to  avert ;  for  force 
to  resist ;  the  mighty  clock  of  ages  and  empires  must  strike, 
and  the  new  era  begin.  On  the  15th  April  the  grenadiers  and 
light  infantry,  the  flower  of  the  army,  were  relieved  from 
daily  routine  duty,  under  pretence  of  learning  a  new  exercise. 
At  twelve  o'clock  the  next  night,  the  boats  of  the  transport 
ships  in  the  harbor,  having  been  repaired,  were  launched  and 
moored  under  the  sterns  of  the  men-of-war.  Not  a  step  of 
these  movements — the  displacement  of  the  troops — the  mid 
night  preparation  of  the  boats  for  service — but  was  scanned 
with  eagle  eyes  by  the  members  of  the  society  above  men 
tioned.  It  had  been  concerted  that,  if  the  royal  forces  were 
embarked  in  boats  to  cross  to  Charlestown  or  Cambridge 
two  lanterns  should  be  lighted  in  the  steeple  of  the  old  church 
on  Copp's  hill,  and  one  if  they  marched  out  by  land  through 
Roxbury. 

The  19th  of  April  was  the  day  appointed  by  Governor 
Gage  for  an  expedition  to  Concord.  All  possible  means  were 


428  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPEES. 

adopted,  by  guarding  the  roads  the  evening  before,  to  pre 
vent  the  tidings  from  spreading  through  the  country.  Ah, 
Governor,  the  words  "  Grenadiers,  forward,  march ! "  arc 
hardly  whispered  at  dead  of  night,  at  the  head  of  the  column, 
before  two  flaming  messengers  from  the  belfry  of  the  old 
church,  are  streaming  over  the  graves  of  the  sleepers  on 
Copp's  hill.  Like  the  beacon  fires  which  announced  in  the 
palaces  of  Argos  that  Troy  had  fallen,  these  flashing  heralds 
ran  through  the  villages  of  Middlesex,  to  proclaim  that  the 
sceptre  of  a  mightier  than  Priam  had  departed.  Not  content 
with  lighting  the  signal  in  the  old  church  steeple,  Paul  Re 
vere  immediately  crossed  in  a  boat  to  Charlestown,  borrowed 
deacon  Larkin's  horse,  dashed  by  the  royal  sentinels  who 
were  guarding  the  road  by  the  gibbet,  at  the  end  of  Charles- 
town  neck,  passed  at  the  top  of  his  speed  through  Medford 
and  West  Cambridge,  giving  the  alarm  and  setting  the  bells 
to  ringing  on  the  way ;  and  in  a  few  hours  the  tocsin  was 
sounding  from  half  the  steeples  in  Middlesex  county. 

At  about  midnight,  Revere  reached  Lexington,  and  de 
livered  to  John  Hancock  and  Samuel  Adams  a  message  from 
Dr.  Joseph  Warren,  (the  hero  of  Bunker  Hill,)  acquainting 
them  that  the  troops  were  in  movement,  as  was  supposed, 
for  Concord,  and  that  they  must  provide  for  their  own  safety, 
their  seizure  no  doubt  being  one  of  the  objects  of  the  Royal 
governor.  These  proscribed  patriots  were  passing  the  night 
at  the  house  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Clark,  the  minister  of  Lexington, 
between  whom  and  Hancock  there  was  a  connection  by  mar 
riage.  It  would  not  be  possible  within  the  limits  of  one  of 
these  papers,  if  indeed  this  were  the  place  for  such  a  narra 
tive,  to  relate  the  events  of  that  eventful  morning,  as  they  oc 
curred  on  Lexington  green,  nor  is  it  necessary.  They  have 
been  told  in  some  of  the  brightest  pages  of  the  history  of  the 
country.  Our  business  is  with  what  passed  under  the  humble 
roof  of  Mr.  Clark's  dwelling,  an  old,  black,  weather-beaten 


THE   MOUNT    VEIiNON    PAPE1JS.  429 

house,  the  front  buried  in  shade,  still  standing,  and  well  worth 
going  to  Lexington  to  see. 

Besides  Hancock  and  Adams  there  were  at  Mr.  Clark's 
house,  Mrs.  Hancock,  the  widow  of  the  governor's  rich  uncle, 
and  Miss  Dorothy  Quincy,  to  whom  the  governor  was  paying 
his  court,  and  who  afterwards  became  his  wife.  Not  sorry, 
it  may  be  presumed,  to  display  his  chivalry  before  her,  he 
passed  the  night  (as  she  was  accustomed  to  relate)  "  in  clean 
ing  his  gun  and  sword,  and  putting  his  accoutrements  in  or 
der,"  determined  to  go  out  and  join  the  militia  on  the  green. 
It  was  with  great  difficulty  he  was  dissuaded  by  Mr.  Clark 
and  Samuel  Adams,  the  latter  of  whom,  clapping  him  on  the 
shoulder,  said,  "  That  is  not  our  business  ;  we  belong  to  the 
Cabinet."  It  was  not  till  daybreak  that  he  yielded,  and 
consented  with  Samuel  Adams  to  retreat  to  a  place  of  greater 
safety.  They  left  the  village  of  Lexington  as  the  bayonets  of 
the  grenadiers  were  seen  gleaming  in  the  distance,  Samuel 
Adams  exclaiming  at  the  sight,  "  Oh,  wrhat  a  glorious  day  is 
this  ! " 

Hancock  and  Adams  were  hastily  conducted  to  the  house 
of  the  Reverend  Mr.  Jones,  the  minister  of  the  north-west 
precinct  of  "Woburn,  now  forming  the  town  of  Burlington. 
This  house,  a  respectable  rural  parsonage,  shaded  by  noble 
trees,  is  now  occupied  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Sewell,  one  of  the 
successors  of  Mr.  Jones,  and  is  next  door  to  that  from  which 
this  paper  is  written.  The  ladies,  whose  safety  was  not  sup 
posed  to  be  threatened,  had  been  left  behind  ;  but  the  bullets 
whizzed  about  their  heads,  as  they  stood  at  the  windows 
watching  the  strange  scene.  At  length  they  were  sent  for,  to 
come  to  Mr.  Jones'  in  Mr.  Hancock's  carriage,  and  (it  must 
be  mentioned  as  one  of  the  recorded  res  gestce  of  the  day)  they 
were  especially  enjoined  to  bring  with  them  a  fine  salmon, 
which  had  been  provided  for  their  dinner  ;  rather  earlier,  it 
would  seem,  in  the  season  than  salmon  are  now  brought  to 
market.  Had  the  British  officers  known  that  it  was  left  be- 


430  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

hind,  on  the  flight  of  the  Patriots,  they  would  probably  have 
thought  that  it  was  a  fair  prize,  even  without  a  process  in  a 
Court  of  Admiralty.  Happily  the  Boyal  army  passed  on, 
without  a  suspicion  of  the  dainty  treasure  within  their  reach. 

The  ladies  arrived  with  it  in  due  time,  at  the  Burlington 
parsonage,  but  scarcely  had  the  party,  who,  in  the  confusion 
of  that  wild  hour  of  peril  and  flight,  had  not  broken  their  fast, 
set  down  to  an  early  country  dinner,  of  which  the  rescued 
salmon  formed  the  most  important  part,  when  one  of  the 
yeomanry  from  the  neighborhood  burst  into  the  house,  in 
wild  affright,  with  the  information,  that  the  regulars  were  on 
the  way,  adding  that  "  his  wrife  was  already  in  etarnityT  It 
was  no  time  to  think  of  dining,  even  on  an  early  salmon.  The 
carriage  was  taken  into  the  woods  for  concealment,  and  Han 
cock  and  Adams  were  hurried  off  to  a  lonely  dwelling,  lying 
at  the  corner  of  Woburn  and  the  two  adjacent  towns,  not 
connected  by  the  high  road  with  either  of  them,  or  with  any 
other  settlement  in  the  civilized  world, — a  dreary,  solitary 
place,  which  you  approach,  you  hardly  know  how,  by  a  private 
road  through  the  forest.  Here  the  patriots  were  secreted, 
and  all  hope  of  salmon  having  vanished,  they  made  a  frugal  but 
hearty  meal,  so  says  tradition,  on  cold  salt  pork  and  potatoes. 
In  this  house  they  passed  the  night,  not  learning  till  the  next 
morning,  that  the  second  alarm  was  unfounded.  That  they 
had  yielded  to  it,  however,  was  no  matter  of  reproach.  The 
danger  from  which  they  had  just  escaped  at  Lexington  was 
imminent,  and  no  one  could  tell  where  the  next  blow  would 
fall. 

One  of  the  incidents  of  the  day  was  the  capture  of  a  Brit 
ish  grenadier  single-handed  by  a  volunteer  from  Woburn. 
This  individual,  Sylvanus  Wood  by  name,  and  a  shoemaker 
by  trade,  of  diminutive  stature,  but  with  a  spirit  beyond  his 
inches,  when  the  alarm  was  given  in  Woburn  early  in  the 
morning  on  the  19th,  hastened  to  Lexington.  He  paraded 
with  Captain  Parker's  company  on  Lexington  Green,  and 


TJIK    MOU-N'JC    VKRNON    PAPERS.  431 

after  they  were  dispersed  by  the  overwhelming  force  of  the 
enemy,  he  followed  toward  Concord  in  the  rear  of  the  royal 
army.  At  a  turn  of  the  road,  he  came,  by  surprise,  upon  a 
soldier  who  had  loitered  behind  and  was  seated  by  the  way 
side.  Wood  sprang  toward  him,  threatening  to  fire  if  he  re 
sisted.  Having  taken  from  him  his  gun,  cutlass,  and  equip 
ments,  Sylvanus  marched  him  back  to  Lexington,  and  there 
surrendered  him  "  to  Mr.  Welch  and  another  person." 

In  the  year  1826,  being  then  a  member  of  Congress,  and 
representing  Wood's  district,  I  received  a  memorial  from  him, 
setting  forth  the  facts  above  stated,  and  his  service  afterwards 
in  the  army  of  the  revolution.  The  application  was  referred 
to  the  Committee  on  Pensions,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few 
years,  what  with  the  prisoner  and  what  with  his  service  after 
wards,  he  obtained  a  pension  of  ninety-six  dollars  a  year,  with 
several  years  back  pay,  from  the  time  his  petition  was  first  pre 
sented.  It  was  probably  more  money  than  he  had  ever  seen  at 
once  before,  and  he  seemed  to  have  but  an  indifferent  opinion 
of  the  ordinary  places  of  deposit  and  modes  of  investment. 
He  told  me  that  he  kept  it  in  his  hat  by  day,  and  under  his 
pillow  by  night.  My  own  services  in  procuring  the  pension 
which  were  diligently  rendered  for  several  years,  were  liber 
ally  acknowledged  by  Sylvanus,  by  the  present  of  a  basket  of 
apples,  (Baldwins,)  the  only  reward  which  ever  fell  to  my 
lot,  for  carrying  a  claim  through  Congress.  Such  was  the 
rude  simplicity  of  those  days  ! 

The  great  improvement  in  his  worldly  circumstances,  ef 
fected  by  his  pension,  awoke  a  desire  in  Sylvanus  to  see  some 
thing  of  the  great  world.  He  found  his  way  to  Washington, 
and  it  naturally  devolved  on  me  to  do  the  honors  of  the  me 
tropolis  for  him.  I  introduced  him  to  the  celebrities  ;  showed 
him  the  library  of  Congress,  the  Indian  Bureau,  the  Patent- 
Office,  the  "  East-Room,"  and  in  fact  made  the  most  of  my 
sturdy  little  constituent,  "  who  had  taken  the  first  prisoner 
in  the  Revolutionary  war."  Having  thus  made  the  rounds, 


4:32  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPEKS. 

Wood,  whose  appetite  for  grandeurs  grew  with  what  it  fed 
on,  expressed  a  wish  to  be  introduced  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  General  Jackson.  I  hesitated  a  little,  feeling 
some  compunction,  though  one  of  "  the  opposition,"  to  contri 
bute  even  in  this  small  degree  to  increase  the  annoyance  of 
receiving  visitors  ;  one  of  the  heaviest  burdens  of  high  office 
in  Washington.  But  the  thought  of  the  "  first  prisoner," 
perhaps  a  grenadier  eight  feet  high  in  his  cap,  marching  down 
the  road  in  fallen  majesty  before  the  sturdy  little  militia-man, 
overcame  my  scruples.  I  addressed  a  note  to  General  Jack 
son,  acquainting  him  with  the  wish  of  my  constituent  to  be 
introduced,  and  promising  if  he  would  receive  us  to  stay  but 
a  moment.  The  President  readily  appointed  a  time  to  see 
him ;  Sylvanus  promised  me  faithfully  that  he  would  not  tell 
him  the  story  of  the  "  first  prisoner,"  (for  on  that  theme  he 
studied  fulness  of  detail  more  than  conciseness  of  narrative  ; 
and  we  entered  the  cabinet  at  the  appointed  time.  It  was 
half  full  of  persons  to  whom  the  General  was  giving  audience ; 
but,  nothing  daunted  with  the  novelty  of  the  scene,  Wood 
walked  boldly  up  toward  the  President,  who  took  him  kindly 
by  the  hand.  This  wras  rather  more  than  he  expected,  and 
disconcerted  him  for  a  moment.  He  immediately  recovered 
himself,  however,  and  evidently  tacking  together  in  his  own 
mind,  as  with  a  fine  waxed  thread,  the  capture  of  the  first  pris 
oner  in  1775  and  the  fighting  of  the  last  battle  in  1815,  with 
a  native  oratory  not  studied  in  the  schools,  said,  "  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  I'm  glad  to  see  you  : — since  [the  battle  of]  Orleans  I've 
loved  your  person."  As  I  had  promised,  I  made  a  movement 
to  withdraw  immediately,  but  the  President  kindly  prolonged 
the  interview  for  a  few  moments. 

Wood,  I  think,  had  not  a  little  reason  to  bo  proud  of  his 
exploit.  As  a  matter  of  legal  principle,  the  first  thought,  I 
imagine,  writh  many  a  person  at  that  day — at  any  day — find 
ing  himself  in  such  a  position,  a  private  man,  not  acting  under 
orders  from  anybody,  in  the  very  near  neighborhood  of  a 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPEKS.  433 

soldier  in  the  service  of  a  government  whose  authority  was 
still  admitted,  would  be  to  pass  quietly  by  on  the  other  side. 
As  a  matter  of  prudence,  it  would  have  occurred  to  most  men, 
standing  five  feet  high,  that  it  was  somewhat  hazardous  to 
undertake  the  capture  of  a  grenadier.  His  gun  might  be  out 
of  his  reach,  but  he  had  "  his  cutlass  and  equipments."  Wood 
took  no  counsel  of  loyalty  or  prudence ;  his  blood  was  up, 
and  he  captured  his  Anakim ;  little  thinking  that  that  day's 
work  and  his  participation  in  it  would,  after  thirty  years, 
procure  a  provision  for  his  old  age  from  a  powerful,  independ 
ent  government,  and  a  personal  introduction  to  its  chief. 

The  capture  of  the  first  prisoner  was  the  point  of  central 
interest  in  Wood's  career  ;  he  valued  himself  upon  it.  After 
he  obtained  his  pension,  not  being  needy  before,  he  was  in 
what  might  be  called  comfortable  circumstances,  but  not  dis 
posed  to  impair  them  by  waste.  Still,  whenever  a  little  con 
tribution  to  a  charity  or  a  donation  to  a  public  object  was 
desired,  a  trifle  could  generally  be  obtained  from  Sylvanus, 
by  beginning  with  an  inquiry  about  "  taking  the  first  pris 
oner."  He  died  a  few  years  ago,  in  his  ninety-third  year. 
There  is  no  harm  in  thus  prolonging  for  a  few  years  his  hum 
ble  memory. 

Before  closing  this  paper,  I  may  observe  that  a  movement 
has  been  commenced  at  Lexington,  to  erect  in  that  beautiful 
village  near  the  scene  of  the  battle,  an  appropriate  monument, 
in  commemoration  of  the  first  blood  shed  in  the  revolution 
ary  Avar.  A  simple  obelisk  was  set  up  in  the  year  1799  on 
Lexington  green,  in  memory  of  the  event,  and  on  the  19th 
of  April,  1835,  the  ashes  of  those  who  fell  on  the  momentous 
day,  sixty  years  before,  were  removed  from  the  village  grave 
yard,  and,  with  appropriate  and  affecting  ceremonies,  placed 
under  the  obelisk.  It  is  now  proposed  to  erect  in  the  neigh 
borhood  a  monument  more  in  keeping  with  the  importance 
and  grandeur  of  the  event,  to  be  surmounted  with  the  statue 
— not  of  any  one  individual,  for  there  is  no  one  entitled  to 
19 


434  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

that  distinction — but  of  a  "  Minute  Man,"  the  representative 
of  the  class  which  flew  to  arms  on  that  eventful  morning,  and 
took  the  first  step  in  the  march  of  the  revolution.  This  is 
the  class  to  which  the  honors  of  the  day  are  due,  and  the  spot 
is  one  which  will  be  named  in  all  after  time,  with  Marathon 
and  Thermopylae ; — not  for  the  dimensions  of  the  conflict  in 
a  military  point  of  view,  but  for  the  importance  of  the  era  in 
the  world's  history  which  it  inaugurated.  The  favoring  sym 
pathy  of  the  country  at  large  may  be  anticipated  for  the 
movement. 


NUMBER    FORTY-EIGHT. 

FROM  BERNE  TO  SACHSELN. 

The  Aar  and  its  valley — Thun,  its  environs  and  lake—  Unterseen— The  Lauterbrun- 
nen  and  Staubbach — A  glimpse  of  the  Swiss  peasantry — Curious  misprint  in 
Goldsmith's  Traveller— The  Lake  of  Brienz— The  Giesbach— The  musical  school 
master  and  his  family— The  pass  of  the  Brunig— Entrance  into  Unterwalden— 
Lungern  and  its  lake — Partially  drained — Sachseln — St.  Nicholas  von  der  Flue — 
Legends  concerning  him. 

A  DRIVE  of  four  or  five  hours  took  us  from  Berne  to  Thun ; 
since  the  construction  of  the  railroad,  it  is  the  affair  of  a  short 
hour.  Persons  travelling  in  the  opposite  direction,  from 
Thun  to  Berne,  frequently  take  the  market  boats  which  de 
scend  the  Aar.  This  river  is,  next  to  the  Rhone  and  the 
Rhine,  of  which  it  is  the  most  considerable  tributary,  one  of 
the  most  important  channels,  by  which  the  waters  of  the 
Swiss  ice-mountains  find  their  way  to  the  sea.  Its  principal 
sources  are  in  the  glaciers  of  the  Schreckhorn  and  the  Grim- 
sel,  at  no  great  distance  from  those  of  the  Rhine.  It  foams 
through  frightful  ravines,  and  plunges  over  lofty  waterfalls,  in 
the  first  part  of  its  course,  but  it  is  navigable  for  the  greater 
part  of  the  way  from  the  lake  of  Thun,  and  winding  by  Berne, 
Soleure,  and  Aarau,  unites  its  waters  with  the  Rhine,  about 
half-way  between  Basle  and  Schaffhausen.  Between  Berne 
and  Thun,  the  valley  of  the  Aar  is  charming.  You  see  but 
little  of  the  river,  but  substantial  farm-houses  line  the  road, 
and  rich  pastures  spread  rural  plenty  far  away  before  and 
around  you.  The  sky  was  cloudless,  and  the  sparkling  sum- 


436  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS. 

mits  of  the  Alps,  beyond  the  sources  of  the  Aar,  bounded  the 
prospect.  There  is,  perhaps,  no  country  where  the  state  of 
the  weather  is  so  important  to  the  tourist.  It  makes  all  the 
difference  between  the  dreary  uniformity  of  cold,  leaden 
clouds,  which  are  the  same  in  all  countries,  and  the  un 
matched  glories  of  the  Jungfrau  and  Mont  Blanc. 

Thun  is  a  picturesque  old  town,  of  three  or  four  thousand 
inhabitants,  and  though  not  among  the  more  celebrated  re 
sorts,  struck  me  as  one  of  the  most  attractive  spots  for  a  quiet 
residence  in  Switzerland.  It  is  about  a  mile  from  the  lake, 
and  the  Aar,  as  it  dashes  out  of  it,  is  not  inferior  in  sparkling 
beauty  to  the  Rhone,  as  it  rushes  from  the  lake  of  Geneva. 
An  ancient  church,  a  ruined  castle,  smiling  meadows  in  the 
environs,  modern  villas,  the  river,  the  lake,  and  beyond,  the 
glaciers,  the  wooded  heights,  and  in  the  background  the 
Sovereign  MAIDEN  ; — no  element  of  loveliness  or  grandeur 
is  wanting  at  Thun.  But  these  mountain  regions  have  their 
perils  and  disasters,  unknown  to  the  lower  world.  We  con 
tributed  our  mite  to  the  relief  of  the  inhabitants  of  a  valley, 
which  had  lately  been  buried  by  an  avalanche  ;  and  our  hasty 
excursion  will  soon  bring  us  to  the  melancholy  ruins  of 
Goldau. 

A  little  steamer  now  plies  from  Thun  to  Interlachen  ;  we 
crossed  the  lake  by  a  more  picturesque  conveyance,  a  broad, 
flat-bottomed  boat,  rowed  by  women,  with  a  very  inconsider 
able  draft  of  water,  wrhich  enabled  us  to  creep  nearer  to  some 
beautiful  spots  along  the  shores  of  the  lake,  which  with  a 
greater  draft  of  water  would  have  been  inaccessible.  We 
were  about  three  hours  on  this  delightful,  secluded  little  sheet 
of  water.  There  were  but  few  villas  at  that  time  on  the 
shores  of  the  lake — just  enough  to  give  assurance  that  you 
were  not  "  out  of  humanity's  reach,"  without  changing  the 
rustic  simplicity  of  the  scene  by  the  alloy  of  suburban  mag 
nificence.  The  shores  of  the  lake  for  some  distance  from 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS.  437 

Thun  have  changed  their  character,  I  believe,  in  this  respect 
of  late  years,  by  the  erection  of  numerous  villas. 

Unterseen,  as  its  name  imports,  (between  the  lakes),  lies 
about  halfway  between  the  lake  of  Thun  and  the  lake  of 
Brienz.  It  is  rather  a  forlorn  place ;  the  black,  weather- 
stained  houses,  which  are  reported  in  the  hand-book  as  "  being 
two  hundred  years  old,"  have  grown  young  since  we  were 
there ;  our  guide  assured  us  they  were  two  thousand  years 
old  !  We  took  a  char-a-banc  directly  at  the  landing-place  for 
Lauterbrunnen  and  the  Staubbach.  Lauterbrunnen  (clear 
spring)  is  a  most  romantic  spot ;  a  narrow  vale,  almost  a 
ravine,  between  lofty  calcareous  walls  leading  up  toward  the 
Jungfrau.  The  village,  of  the  same  name  as  the  valley,  con 
taining  between  a  thousand  and  fifteen  hundred  houses,  is  a 
sombre  spot ;  its  houses  are  far  apart ;  the  prodigious  rocky 
walls  that  overhang  it  must  nearly  shut  out  the  sun  in  the 
short  winter  days ;  vegetation  wears  a  coarse,  wiry,  Alpine 
look.  The  most  remarkable  feature  of  the  scene  consists  in 
the  numerous  waterfalls,  some  of  them  insignificant,  and 
others  of  some  magnitude,  which  break  over  the  edges  of  the 
surrounding  mountains.  They  vary  in  volume  of  course 
wTith  the  weather  and  the  temperature ;  some  of  them  flowing 
down  to  the  level  of  the  valley  ;  some  breaking  over  the  sum 
mit,  in  a  considerable  torrent ;  others  merely  fringing  the 
rocks  over  which  they  fall.  The  Staubbach  alone  (or  dusty 
torrent)  has  obtained  celebrity.  The  volume  of  water  in  this 
famous  cascade  was  not  very  considerable  as  we  saw  it,  but  it 
is  at  all  times  a  most  striking  object.  American  tourists  who 
go  to  see  the  Staubbach,  with  their  heads  full  of  the  image  of 
Niagara,  are  disappointed.  It  is  one  of  the  characteristics  of 
Niagara  that  its  oceanic  volume  defies  the  seasons.  Melting 
snows  and  deluging  rains  do  not  swell  it ;  the  droughts  of 
midsummer  do  not  sensibly  affect  the  mighty  flow  of  its 
waters.  But  the  Staubbach  sometimes  steals  down  the  face 
of  the  rock  in  a  thin  silvery  thread ;  and  at  other  times, 


438  THE  MOUNT  VEKNOJT  PAPERS. 

when  swollen  by  heavy  rains,  shoots  fiercely  out  from  the 
rock,  boldly  arching  over  the  valley,  and  swept  to  and  fro  by 
the  wind.  Byron  in  his  journal  *  compares  it  to  "  the  tail  of 
a  white  horse  streaming  in  the  wind,  such  as  it  might  be  con 
ceived  would  be  that  of  the  pale  horse,  on  which  Death  is 
mounted  in  the  Apocalypse.  It  is  neither  mist  nor  water, 
but  a  something  between  both ;  its  immense  height  (nine 
hundred  feet)  gives  it  a  wave  or  curve,  a  spreading  here  or 
condensation  there,  wonderful  and  indescribable."  He  has 
transferred  this  grand  figure  of  the  tail  of  Death's  pale  horse 
to  his  Manfred,  in  which  other  images  also  are  painted  from 
Alpine  scenery. 

On  our  way  back  from  this  pilgrimage  to  one  of  inanimate 
Nature's  most  awe-inspiring  shrines,  we  stepped  into  several 
cottages,  to  get  a  nearer  view  of  human  nature,  in  the  life  of 
the  Alpine  peasantry.  I  cannot  say  that  it  gained  on  closer 
inspection.  We  were  generally  received  with  a  sort  of  stolid 
apathy  ;  the  dialect  is  the  harshest  I  ever  heard  spoken  ;  there 
was  an  entire  absence  of  that  delightful  feature  of  humble  life, 
which  is  so  well  expressed  by  tidiness ;  an  appearance  of 
want,  and  of  no  ambition  to  smooth  it  over  by  ingenious  little 
make-shifts  ;  and  at  times,  I  must  say,  a  sinister  cast  of  coun 
tenance.  M.  Von  Fellenberg  had  prepared  me  for  this  state 
of  things,  the  sorrowful  contemplation  of  which  gave  the  first 
impulse  to  his  educational  efforts.  Far  from  regarding  Edu 
cation  as  a  mere  intellectual  process,  designed  to  impart  a- 
certain  amount  of  useful  knowledge  ;  he  looked  upon  it  as  the 
only  agency  by  which  the  condition  of  the  masses,  physical, 
social,  political,  and  moral,  could  be  improved.  Aware  how 
much  America  has  suffered  in  the  hasty  generalizations  of 
tourists,  I  should  be  very  sorry  to  do  injustice  to  any  part  of 
Switzerland  ; — but  as  I  had  no  reason  to  suppose  that  what  I 
saw  between  Unterseen  and  Lauterbrunnen  formed  an  excep- 

*  Moore's  life  of  Byron,    Yol.  II.,  p.  14.    Am.  Ed. 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEES.  439 

tional  specimen  of  life  in  the  higher  Alps,  I  have  ventured  to 
record  it.  There  is,  to  all  appearance,  a  marked  discrimina 
tion,  as  might  be  beforehand  expected,  between  the  character 
of  the  peasantry  in  the  ungenial  regions  of  the  Oberland,  and 
the  substantial  yeomanry  of  the  middle  agricultural  region, 
and  the  highly  cultivated  population  of  the  large  towns  and 
their  neighborhoods.  It  resembles  the  contrast  between 
Lapland  and  Saxony,  except  that  in  one  case  it  is  produced 
by  difference  of  latitude  ',  in  the  other  by  difference  of  eleva 
tion. 

With  respect  to  the  Swiss,  Goldsmith  has  pretty  fairly 
presented,  in  the  Traveller,  the  two  phases  of  their  charac 
ter,  without  clearly  referring  them  to  the  different  regions  to 
which  they  pertain.  In  the  beautiful  edition  of  the  Traveller, 
published,  with  superior  illustrations,  by  the  London  Art 
Union  in  1851,  a  curious  misprint  occurs,  in  the  commence 
ment  of  the  description  of  the  Swiss,  not  only  in  the  text  of 
the  Poem,  but  in  the  quotations  from  it  explaining  the  illus 
trations.  In  the  following  couplet, 

Where  the  "bleak  Swiss  their  stormy  mansion  tread, 
And  force  a  churlish  soil  for  scanty  bread, 

instead  of  "  bleak  "  this  edition  in  both  places  reads  "  black." 

We  passed  the  night  at  Unterseen.  A  company  of  sing 
ers,  five  in  number,  undertook  to  regale  us  with  national 
airs.  Their  appearance  certainly  was  not  prepossessing ;  their 
voices  were  harsh,  and  their  manners  destitute  of  refinement. 
We  encouraged  their  performance  at  first,  in  the  hopes  of 
hearing  some  national  ballads  ;  the  legend  of  Tell,  or  the  wild 
traditions  of  Lauterbrunnen  itself.  Their  repertoire,  however, 
contained  nothing  but  commonplace  sentimentalities,  which, 
being  destitute  of  skill  or  grace  in  the  performance,  soon 
wearied. 

Unterseen  was  alive  in  the  morning  with  a  cattle  fair. 
The  scene  resembled  similar  gatherings  in  our  own  country, 


44:0  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

except  in  the  costume  of  the  drovers.  We  pushed  our  way 
through  the  crowd,  on  the  road  to  Interlachen,  and  there  em 
barked  for  Brienz,  which  lies  at  the  further  extremity  of  a 
lake  of  the  same  name,  greatly  resembling  that  of  Thun,  but 
somewhat  smaller,  and  surrounded  with  ruder  scenery.  The 
Aar  flows  through  both.  Of  the  five  boatmen  who  formed 
our  equipage,  four  were  women.  The  men  seek  foreign  mili 
tary  service,  (which  is  now  forbidden  by  law,)  or  drive  the 
flocks  and  herds  to  the  mountains,  leaving  the  women  to  do 
the  work  at  home.  The  flat-bottomed  boats,  which  we  found 
on  these  little  mountain  lakes,  have  everywhere  been  banished 
by  steamers.  The  Alpine  echoes  are  now  awakened  by 
the  panting  engine  and  screaming  whistle.  Opposite  to  Bri- 
enz  we  landed  to  view  the  Giesbach,  (gushing  torrent,)  an  ex 
tremely  picturesque  and  beautiful  object.  There  is  no  one 
fall  as  lofty  as  the  Staubbach,  but  the  succession  of  cascades 
is  higher  ;  the  stream  pours  down  a  greater  volume  of  water, 
and  is  surrounded  with  a  far  more  pleasing  landscape.  It 
bounds  from  rock  to  rock,  its  pure  silver  water  glittering 
through  groves  of  fir,  and  lower  down  oak  and  beech  woods, 
and  after  a  long  winding  path  down  the  mountain  side,  dashes 
foaming  into  the  lake. 

Opposite  the  falls  a  schoolmaster  of  Brienz  had  established 
himself  in  a  small  cottage,  with  five  motherless  children,  the 
oldest  of  whom  was  but  ten  or  eleven  years  of  age.  He  ac 
companied  them  and  himself  on  the  harpsichord,  and  as  the 
little  ones  had  wonderful  voices  for  their  years,  the  effect  was 
very  pleasing.  They  executed  for  us  some  very  pretty  Ranz 
des  Vaches,  with  tasteful  variations  on  the  native  airs  of  the 
Oberland.  After  forty  years  he  is  still  perched  and  chirping 
in  his  Alpine  nest,  for  it  must  be  the  same  individual  who  is 
described  in  the  hand-book,  "  whose  family  and  himself  are 
celebrated  as  the  best  choristers  of  native  airs  in  Switzerland. 
He  is  now  a  patriarch  of  eighty,  and  most  of  his  children  are 
married,  but  he  is  training  his  grandchildren  to  the  same  pro- 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

fession  of  songsters."  Let  us  hope  that  they  too  will  not 
leave  the  poor  old  Alpine  minstrel. 

Brienz  is  a  beautifully  situated  village  at  the  upper  end 
of  the  lake  ;  its  inhabitants  had  all  gone  to  the  fair  at  Unter- 
seen.  Here  the  traveller  usually  takes  horses  to  cross  the 
Briinig  mountain  to  Lungern,  but  the  horses  were  gone  to 
the  fair  with  the  men.  We  could  get  but  one  for  ourselves, 
baggage,  and  guides.  My  companion  had  lamed  himself,  and 
was  entitled  to  ride,  and  I  was  well  pleased  to  climb  the 
mountain  on  foot.  The  road  was  in  some  places  very  steep, 
and  hardly  afforded  a  foothold  on  the  mountain  side.  The 
Brunig  forms  the  barrier  between  Berne  and  Unterwalden, 
and  after  you  enter  the  latter  Canton,  every  thing  that  deserves 
the  name  of  a  road  disappears  in  this  quarter.  Nothing  re 
mains  but  to  scramble  among  the  rocks,  following  the  foot 
steps  of  your  guide.  But  the  youthful  traveller  does  not 
reject  this  rough  contact  of  mountain  life,  and  the  scene  as 
you  descend  the  last  hill,  repays  the  fatigue  a  hundred  fold. 
It  was  difficult  to  refrain  from  cries  of  delight  as  we  looked 
down  upon  the  lake  and  village  of  Lungern,  quietly  enfolded 
by  the  surrounding  hills  clothed  with  woods  to  their  sum 
mits,  the  dark  green  tint  of  the  meadows  at  their  feet,  the 
peaceful  seclusion  of  the  region,  traversed  by  nothing  that  can 
be  called  a  highway,  and  on  one  side  of  which  there  was  no 
approach  by  wheel  carriages ;  the  sound  of  vespers  chimed 
from  the  steeple  as  we  drew  near  the  village,  the  tinkling 
bells  of  the  returning  herds,  and  the  plaintive  chant  of  the 
cow-boys,  and  as  the  evening  closed  in,  the  long  shadows  of 
the  mountains  stealing  over  the  lake.  Such  were  the  sights, 
the  sounds,  as  we  descended  the  Brunig  to  Lungern. 

It  was  probably  on  his  tour  to  Switzerland,  that  Sir 
Walter  Scott  conceived  the  idea  of  making  Baillie  Jarvie  in 
Rob  Roy  propose  to  drain  Loch  Lomond.  The  inhabitants 
of  Lungern  had  labored  for  years  by  a  tunnel  through  the 
Kaiserstuhl,  (Emperor's  chair,)  which  forms  a  natural  dam 
19* 


442  THE  MOUNT  VEKNOX  PAPERS. 

between  the  lakes  of  Lungern  and  Sarnen,  to  lower  the  form 
er.  The  cost  of  the  work,  the  want  of  engineering  skill,  and 
the  political  convulsions  of  the  times,  had  defeated  the  execu 
tion  of  this  deplorable  improvement,  and  I  saw  the  sweet  lake 
of  Lungern  in  all  its  natural  beauty,  as  lovely  an  object  as 
there  is  in  Europe.  But  keener  land  speculators,  richer  com 
panies,  more  skilful  engineers,  have  accomplished  the  work. 
In  1836  the  final  perforation  of  the  Kaiserstuhl  took  place, 
and  in  sixteen  days  the  water  in  the  lake  of  Lungern  fell  to 
the  level  of  the  tunnel.  By  this  operation  a  broad  strip  of 
poor  land  has  been  gained  round  the  margin  of  the  lake.  In 
some  places  its  steep  banks,  having  lost  the  support  derived 
from  the  pressure  of  the  water,  have  crumbled  and  slid  into 
the  lake.  The  newly  acquired  soil  is  divided  into  small  hold 
ings,  each  with  its  chalet,  and  is  said,  on  the  hand-book,  to  look 
like  the  common  "  property  of  a  free-hold  land  society." 

On  entering  Unterwalden,  one  of  the  four  primitive  Can 
tons,  you  find  yourself  literally  in  the  Switzerland  of  the 
Swiss.  Almost  all  the  great  traditions  and  patriotic  legends 
cluster  about  this  region.  We  started  in  the  morning  from 
Lungern  with  a  second  horse,  for  which  one  of  our  guides  had 
gone  round  by  Meyringen  yesterday,  while  we  footed  the 
Briinig.  With  this  reinforcement  of  the  cavalry  we  entered 
Sachseln,  an  ancient  Swiss  village,  held  in  reverence  as  the 
scene  of  the  labors  of  Saint  Nicholas  von  der  Flue.  The 
parish  church  dedicated  to  him  is  a  somewhat  stately  build 
ing;  its  black  marble  pillars  obtained  from  quarries  in  the 
neighborhood.  Saint  Nicholas  was  born  in  the  early  part  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  and,  after  leading  an  active  political  and 
military  life,  left  a  large  family,  and  retired  heart-stricken  with 
the  sins  and  sorrows  of  life,  to  a  hermit's  cell  in  the  moun 
tains.  The  fame  of  his  austere  penances,  of  his  piety,  of  his 
superhuman  abstinence,  went  abroad  throughout  Unterwalden. 
He  did  not  live  on  earthly  food.  It  was  rumored  that  he  par 
took  no  nourishment  but  that  of  the  sacred  elements  received 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEES.  443 

but  once  a  month.  The  Bishop  sent  to  investigate  the  fact, 
and,  according  to  the  tradition,  it  was  substantiated.  He  once 
averted  a  civil  war,  by  appearing  with  a  message  from 
Heaven,  in  a  Council  of  eight  Cantons  assembled  at  Sarnen, 
and  thus  preventing  the  brethren  from  breaking  up  in  wrath. 
This  exploit  forms  the  subject  of  a  coarse  fresco,  in  the  por 
tico  of  the  church.  The  skeleton  of  the  saint  himself,  a  fright 
ful  object  enough,  is  set  up  in  a  shrine  before  the  altar,  and 
readily  exhibited  to  travellers.  It  is  partly  clad  in  robes 
richly  ornamented  with  jewels,  the  gift  of  devotees,  with 
gilded  rays  shooting  from  the  head,  which  give  it  a  dismal 
resemblance  to  Death  on  the  pale  horse,  in  Mr.  West's  pic 
ture.  A  cross  set  with  jewels  occupies  the  place  of  the  heart 
within  the  ribs.  On  a  lay  figure  in  a  side  chapel  the  gar 
ments  actually  worn  by  the  saint  are  displayed  ;  and  they  are 
borne  in  procession,  on  the  great  festivals  of  the  church, 
throughout  the  year.  The  peasantry  of  the  Canton  consider 
themselves  under  his  especial  tutelage,  and  the  feeling  toward 
him  seems  to  be  more  kindly  than  one  would  have  anticipated 
from  his  ghastly  osteological  presentment.  They  call  him 
Brother  Claus.  When  the  harvest  is  abundant,  and  the  flocks 
and  the  herds  increase  and  multiply,  and  the  produce  of  the 
dairy  finds  a  ready  sale,  Brother  Claus  has  the  credit,  and  if 
the  reverse  of  these  blessings  overtakes  them,  they  are  sure 
Brother  Claus  has  struggled  hard  with  the  Evil  One,  though 
this  time  without  success. 


NUMBEE    FOETY-NINE. 

STANZ,  LUCERNE,  TELL 

Sarnen,  proposed  drainage  of  the  lake — The  Landenberg — Schiller's  Wilhelm  Toll 
and  birthday— Commotion  in  Unterwalden  in  1818— Type  of  Swiss  houses— Ar 
nold  von  "Winkelreid — Besistance  to  the  French  in  179S — Atrocities  described  by 
Alison — The  attack  on  Stanzstade  commanded  by  General  Foy — His  character — 
Lake  of  the  Four  Cantons— Lucerne— General  Pfyffer's  model  of  Switzerland— 
Thorwaldsen's  lion— Kussnacht  one  of  Gessler's  strongholds— Is  the  history  of 
Tell  authentic? — The  story  of  the  Apple  said  to  be  found  in  the  Danish  sagas — 
Does  this  prove  Tell  a  myth  ? — The  hollow  way. 

SARNEN,  on  the  pretty  lake  of  that  name,  is  the  seat  of 
government  of  Unterwalden.  We  passed  but  a  few  hours 
here,  but  long  enough  to  find  out  that  here  also  the  atrocious 
project  of  draining  the  lake  to  a  lower  level  was  in  agitation. 
Whether,  as  in  the  case  of  the  lake  of  Lungern,  this  project 
has  been  carried  into  execution,  I  have  never  heard.  It  is 
natural  that  Americans,  with  whom  the  best  land  in  the  world 
sells  at  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  the  acre,  should  not  be  able  to 
sympathize  with  the  Swiss,  whose  arable  territory  is  so  lim 
ited,  in  this  eagerness  to  acquire  a  few  more  acres.  But  to 
obtain  this  object  by  draining  their  beautiful  lakes,  seems  a 
most  extraordinary  blindness  to  what  makes  so  much  of  the 
attraction  of  the  country,  and  amrmlly  fills  it  with  a  throng 
of  tourists,  whose  progress  through  the  cantons  may  be  traced 
by  the  golden  wake  they  leave  behind  them. 

There  arc  some  objects  of  interest  in  and  about  Sarncn. 
The  Council-house  contains  the  portraits  of  the  Landammen, 
or  local  rulers  of  the  canton,  for  several  centuries.  That  of 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEKS.  445 

the  Cantonal  Saint  Nicholas  von  der  Flue  is  the  best ;  none 
of  them  have  any  merits  as  works  of  art ;  and  the  earliest  of 
them  cannot  be  coeval  with  the  persons  commemorated.  The 
Landenberge  rises  behind  the  Council-house.  This  was  the 
residence  of  one  of  the  Austrian  Bailiffs,  whose  oppressive 
rule  brought  on  the  Swiss  revolt  in  the  fourteenth  century. 
Every  trace  of  the  castle  itself  has  disappeared,  but  the  tradi 
tions  connected  with  it  form  a  prominent  portion  of  the  his 
tory  of  the  all-important  event,  which  has  given  these  little 
Swiss  republics  their  name  and  their  praise  among  the  nations 
of  the  earth.  I  have  on  my  table,  as  I  write  these  sentences, 
the  copy  of  Schiller 's  Wilhelm  Tell  in  a  pocket  edition,  which 
was  my  travelling  companion  in  Switzerland,  and  from  which, 
as  I  sat  within  sight  of  the  Landenberg,  I  read  the  pathetic 
scenes  describing  the  cruelty  of  the  Bailiff  to  Hienrich  von 
der  Halden.  A  few  days  ago  the  centennial  anniversary  of 
this  illustrious  poet  was  celebrated  in  every  part  of  the  civil 
ized  world,  where  the  noble  language  in  which  he  wrote  is 
spoken  or  read.  Nowhere  could  it  have  been  celebrated  with 
more  grateful  enthusiasm  than  in  these  secluded  vales  and 
mountain  fastnesses  of  Switzerland,  to  whose  natural  beauty 
and  historical  interest  he  has  added  the  attractive  charm  of 
some  of  the  finest  modern  poetry. 

This  quiet  little  nook,  in  the  spring  of  the  year  in  which 
we  visited  it,  was  almost  the  scene  of  a  less  glorious  insurrec 
tion.  In  the  anticipation  of  a  scarcity,  a  peasant  had,  at  the 
instance  of  the  Diet  of  Unterwalden,  imported  a  considerable 
quantity  of  grain  from  Italy.  Before  its  arrival,  the  market 
price  of  wheat  had  fallen  below  that  which  was  agreed  upon 
with  the  peasant,  and  the  Diet  were  disposed  to  recede  from 
their  bargain.  The  old  Unterwalden  spirit  of  the  Melchthals 
and  Winkelreids  was  at  once  kindled,  and  the  yeomanry 
made  common  cause  with  the  importer  of  the  grain.  The  in 
dignation  against  the  Diet  became  so  strong,  that  troops  were 
called  in  from  the  powerful  neighboring  canton  of  Berne,  to 


44:6  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

prevent  an  outbreak.  Peace  and  harmony  were  at  length  re 
stored,  mainly,  as  we  were  assured  on  the  spot,  by  the  inter 
cession  of  Brother  Glaus,  whose  reputation  as  a  peacemaker 
began  in  his  lifetime,  and  has  been  sustained  ever  since. 

From  the  time  you  enter  Unterwalden,  you  observe  a 
type,  seldom  departed  from,  in  the  domestic  architecture  of 
Switzerland.  The  little  Swiss  cottages  in  our  toy  shops 
afford  a  very  good  idea  of  it.  The  houses  are  of  wood,  of  one 
upright  story  above  the  basement,  galleries  running  wholly 
round  the  house,  projecting  roofs,  low  studded,  the  outsides  of 
the  houses  frequently  covered  with  small  shingles,  and  the 
windows  composed  of  small  octangular  panes  of  glass,  set  in 
leaden  frames, — a  picturesque  style  of  window,  of  which  spe 
cimens  were  frequently  seen  in  this  country  at  the  beginning 
of  this  century,  and  which,  as  far  as  my  observation  goes,  has 
now  wholly  disappeared  in  America.  The  Swiss  cottages 
seem  rarely  to  be  painted ;  they  have  consequently  a  dark, 
weather-beaten,  gloomy  aspect,  which  materially  detracts 
from  the  sprightliness  of  the  landscape.  This  may  have 
changed  with  the  increase  of  wealth  and  the  progress  of 
luxury  of  late  years. 

From  Sarnen  we  proceeded  to  Stanz,  by  a  wretched  road, 
passing  a  part  of  the  way  along  the  bed  of  a  torrent.  This  is 
the  capital  of  the  lower  division  of  the  Canton  of  Unterwalden, 
as  Sarnen  is  of  the  upper.  It  is  a  village  of  perhaps  fifteen 
hundred  inhabitants,  but  had  in  1818  a  convent  of  sixty-five 
nuns,  a  monastery  of  twenty-five  monks,  and  a  parish  church 
served  by  seven  priests.  In  front  of  the  hotel  was  an  uncouth 
statue  of  Arnold  von  Winkelreid,  one  of  the  heroes  of  the 
great  Swiss  revolt,  who,  at  the  memorable  battle  of  Sempach, 
in  order  to  break  the  line  of  the  Austrians,  gathered  as  many 
of  their  spears  as  he  could  clutch  in  his  arms,  and  received 
their  points  in  his  body,  thus  making  an  opening  in  the  hos 
tile  ranks,  which  enabled  the  patriots  to  break  through,  and 
gain  a  glorious  victory.  In  the  statue  just  alluded  to,  he  is 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS.  447 

represented  grasping  the  Austrian  spears.  A  house  is  shown 
as  that  of  Winkelreid,  and  the  surrounding  fields  bear  his 
name.  The  traces  of  the  military  operations  of  1798  were  still 
visible.  A  monumental  tablet  erected  at  the  church  com 
memorates  the  massacre  of  three  hundred  and  eighty-six  of 
the  inhabitants,  who  were  destroyed  by  the  French  in  the 
campaign  of  that  year.  When  all  the  rest  of  Switzerland  had 
submitted  to  the  French,  the  inhabitants  of  these  ancient  central 
Cantons,  faithful  to  the  principles  of  their  fathers,  strove  to 
prevent  the  imposition  of  the  foreign  yoke.  The  shepherds 
and  farmers  of  Unterwalden  refused  to  take  the  oath  of  fidel 
ity  to  the  new  Constitution,  and  their  brethren  from  Schwytz 
and  Uri,  as  in  days  of  yore,  flew  to  their  assistance.  On  the 
2d  of  September,  eight  thousand  French  crossed  the  lake  of 
Lucerne,  and  landing  at  Stanzstade,  attacked  the  patriots, 
who,  fighting  under  every  disadvantage,  and  in  greatly  infe 
rior  numbers,  sustained  the  contest  for  several  days.  Alison 
has  given  a  beautiful  description  of  this  disastrous  struggle. 

"Every  hedge,  every  thicket,  every  cottage  was  obstinately  con 
tested.  The  dying  crawled  into  the  hottest  of  the  fire,  the  women  and 
children  threw  themselves  upon  the  enemy's  bayonets ;  the  gray-haired 
raised  their  feeble  hands  against  the  invaders,  but  what  could  heroism 
and  devotion  achieve  against  such  desperate  odds  ?  Slowly  but 
steadily  the  French  columns  forced  their  way  through  the  valley ;  the 
flames  of  the  houses,  the  massacre  of  the  inhabitants,  marking  their 
steps.  The  beautiful  village  of  Stanz,  built  entirely  of  wood,  was  soon 
consumed ;  seventy  peasants,  with  their  curate  at  their  head,  perished 
in  the  flames  of  the  church.  Two  hundred  auxiliaries  from  Schwytz, 
arriving  too  late  to  prevent  the  massacre,  rushed  into  the  thickest  of  the 
fight,  and  after  slaying  double  their  own  number  of  the  enemy,  perished 
to  the  last  man.  Night  at  length  drew  her  veil  over  these  scenes  of 
horror,  but  the  fires  from  the  burning  villages  still  threw  a  lurid  light 
over  the  cliffs  of  the  Engelberg ;  and  long  after  the  rosy  tint  of  evening 
had  ceased  to  tinge  the  glaciers  of  the  Titlis,  the  glare  of  the  conflagra 
tion  illumined  the  summit  of  the  mountain."  * 

*  Alison,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  470. 


44:8  THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

In  the  foregoing  account,  Alison,  following  the  Annual 
Register,  represents  the  village  of  Stanz  as  having  been 
burned.  This  is  a  mistake.  There  was  no  appearance  in 
1818  of  its  having  been  so  recently  destroyed  and  rebuilt ; 
and  Mr.  Simond,  a  very  accurate  writer,  expressly  says  that 
it  was  saved  by  the  humanity  of  some  of  the  French  officers. 
He  states  that  sixty-three  persons  who  had  taken  refuge  in 
the  church  were  massacred  with  their  priest,  but  not  that 
they  perished  in  the  flames  of  the  building.  The  error  prob 
ably  arose  by  confounding  Stanz  with  its  little  port  on  the 
lake,  called  Stanzstade,  which  was  wholly  destroyed. 

One  cannot  but  read  with  painful  emotion  that  the  French 
troops  in  the  attack  on  Stanzstade  were  commanded  by  General 
Foy,  who  not  only  became,  under  the  restoration  in  France,  one 
of  the  most  honored  of  her  liberal  statesmen,  and  especially 
one  of  the  very  few  of  her  public  men  who  possessed  eminent 
parliamentary  talent,  but  a  citizen  whose  personal  character 
was  marked  by  every  thing  generous,  benevolent,  and  amiable. 
Of  all  those  with  whom  I  became  acquainted  in  Paris  in  the 
winter  1817-'18,  no  one  in  the  same  political  circle  appeared 
to  me  to  be  the  object  of  as  much  personal  good-will  as  Gen 
eral  Foy.  He  had  not  yet  entered  the  chamber  of  deputies, 
but  his  rare  conversational  powers,  united  with  the  sterling 
probity  of  his  character,  gave  him  an  almost  unlimited  social 
influence.  He  died  in  1825,  at  the  age  of  fifty  ;  a  hundred 
thousand  persons  walked  in  his  funeral  procession,  and  a  mil 
lion  of  francs  were  raised  by  subscription  throughout  France, 
as  a  provision  for  his  widow  and  children.  But  this  was  the 
same  person  who  visited  upon  the  citizens  of  Unterwalden  the 
direst  extremities  of  war,  for  striving  to  throw  off  the  detesta 
ble  yoke  of  the  French  Directory  ! 

The  road  from  Stanz  to  Stanzstade,  the  little  landing-place 
from  the  lake,  is  beautifully  shaded  with  trees,  nearly  the 
whole  way.  Here  we  took  a  boat  to  cross  the  lake  to  Lu 
cerne,  the  lake  of  the  four  Cantons,  or  to  call  it  by  its  more 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  449 

expressive  German  name,  the  lake  of  the  four  sylvan  Cantons 
(  Vierwaldstddtersee.)  Mr.  Fox  used  to  say  that  it  was  the 
most  beautiful  lake  in  the  world,  and  Sir  James  Mackintosh 
describes  it  with  unwonted  enthusiasm.  Its  shape  is  very  ir 
regular,  and  it  consists  rather  of  a  group  of  four  lakes  joined 
together  by  narrow  straits,  than  of 'one  regular  expansive 
sheet.  Its  shores  present  every  variety  of  landscape,  from 
broad  fertile  meadows,  dotted  with  scattered  farms  and  com 
pact  villages,  to  dark,  precipitous  rocks,  which  seem  to  tower 
perpendicularly  from  the  waters.  We  were  rowed  in  a  small 
boat  from  Stanzstade  to  Lucerne,  by  two  girls  and  a  man. 
The  weather  was  as  fine  as  a  cloudless  sky  and  a  mild  Sep 
tember  breeze,  just  curling  the  surface  of  the  beautiful  lake, 
could  make  it. 

I  do  not  know  that  I  can  add  any  thing  to  the  account  in 
the  Hand-book  of  the  objects  of  interest  at  Lucerne.  I  must 
confess  that  in  Switzerland  our  attention  was  principally 
turned  to  the  beauties  and  sublimities  of  nature.  One  tires 
at  length,  in  Europe,  of  ancient  churches,  (except  the  great 
mediaeval  piles,  which  you  survey  with  ever  renewed  awe  and 
wonder,)  bridges,  collections  of  armor,  and  galleries  of  doubt 
ful  original  paintings,  which  would  hardly  be  thought  valua 
ble,  if  they  were  certainly  the  wrorks  of  the  great  masters  whose 
names  they  bear ;  but  of  lakes,  and  mountains,  and  glaciers, 
and  cataracts,  and  precipices  like  those  of  Switzerland,  no  one 
who  has  any  sense  for  the  beauties  and  grandeurs  of  nature, 
can  ever  grow  weary. 

One  of  the  objects  which  travellers  go  to  see  at  Lucerne, 
is  General  Pfyffer's  model  in  relief  of  the  central  portion  of 
Switzerland.  General  Pfyffer  belonged  to  the  ancient  aris 
tocracy  of  Lucerne,  but  when  he  was  ten  years  of  age  went  to 
France  to  receive  a  military  education  there.  In  due  time  he 
entered  one  of  the  regiments  of  Swiss  guards,  in  which  his 
father  was  a  captain,  and  succeeded  to  the  command  of  the 
company  on  his  father's  death.  Having  served  with  distinc- 


450          THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

tion  in  the  several  wars  waged  by  France  while  he  was  in  the 
army,  he  returned  home  to  Lucerne  after  sixty  years,  to  close 
his  life  in  his  native  city.  As  an  employment  of  his  leisure, 
he  undertook  to  construct,  from  actual  measurement  and  •with 
geometrical  accuracy,  a  model  of  the  central  part  of  Switzer 
land,  on  a  scale  of  thirteen  and  a  half  inches  to  the  square 
league.  Not  only  every  mountain,  lake,  river,  and  glacier, 
but  every  cottage  is  indicated.  The  model  represents  a  por 
tion  of  six  or  seven  Cantons,  and  occupies  a  space  of  about 
twenty -two  and  a  half  feet  by  twelve,  corresponding  to  some 
hundred  and  eighty  square  leagues  of  territory.  The  good 
old  general  died  in  1802,  at  the  age  of  86,  enjoying  to  the  last 
his  pasteboard  mountains.  This  model  is  still  shown  in  the 
house  where  he  lived  and  died.  Thorwaldscn's  magnificent 
monument  to  the  Swiss  guard,  who  sacrificed  their  lives  in 
defence  of  the  falling  monarchy,  on  the  dreadful  tenth  of  Sep 
tember,  1792,  is  erected  in  the  gardens  of  General  Pfyffer. 
He  was  himself,  I  believe,  one  of  the  few  who  escaped  alive 
from  the  butchery  of  that  terrible  day. 

From  Lucerne  we  took  a  small  boat  to  Kiissnacht.  These 
traverses  across  the  lakes  of  Switzerland  are  now  all  made  by 
steamers,  but  far  less  agreeably,  I  should  think,  than  formerly 
in  the  row  boats.  Kiissnacht  is  the  site  of  one  of  the  legendary 
strongholds  of  Gessler.  I  call  it  "  legendary,"  in  consequence 
of  the  doubts  which,  in  the  last  century,  were  cast  upon  the 
authenticity  of  the  history  of  Tell.  The  fact  that  a  story 
somewhat  similar  to  that  of  the  Apple  is  found  in  two  ver 
sions  in  the  legendary  history  of  Denmark,  has  been  gen 
erally  thought  a  sufficient  proof  that  the  tale  as  told  of  Tell 
must  be  a  myth.  Numerous  works  on  the  subject  appeared 
in  the  last  century.  The  Curate  Freudenberg  of  Berne  pub 
lished  an  essay  in  1760,  entitled  William  Tell  a  Danish  Fable. 
The  government  of  the  Canton  of  Uri  caused  it  to  be  burned 
by  the  public  executioner.  Several  answers  were  written  to 
this  work,  and  in  defence  of  the  traditional  accounts  of  Tell. 


THE  MOUNT  VEKKON  PAPERS. 

The  eminent  historian  Johan  von  Miiller  regards  the  exploits 
of  Tell  as  authentic  history,  and,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Apple,  Mr.  Simond  is  of  the  same  opinion.  Gibbon,  as 
might  be  expected,  regards  them  "  as  a  fable,  which  has  not 
even  the  merit  of  originality,  William  Tell  being  but  a 
clumsy  imitation  (imitation  assez  grossiere)  of  a  Danish  hero, 
perhaps  as  fabulous  as  himself."  *  I  have  not  seen  the  ancient 
Danish  Sagas  and  legendary  histories,  where  the  duplicate 
story  of  Tell's  apple  purports  to  be  found  ;  but  it  does  not 
appear  to  me,  that  such  a  repetition  amounts  to  a  proof  of 
fabrication.  In  an  age  before  the  invention  of  gunpowder, 
and  when  archery  flourished,  it  may  not  have  been  an  unheard- 
of  display  of  skill  to  shoot  an  apple  from  the  head  of  a  living 
person.  There  is  an  account  of  a  border  marksman  in  our 
Western  country  who  was  allowed  by  his  comrades, — such 
was  their  reliance  on  his  skill, — to  shoot  with  his  rifle  at  small 
objects  placed  on  their  heads.  Gessler  may  have  commanded 
of  Tell  this  proof  of  his  skill,  of  which  he  had  seen  examples. 
Is  it  certain  that  the  Danish  legends  are  older  than  the  Swiss  ? 
Tell's  adventure,  as  the  more  renowned,  may  have  been  the 
foundation  from  which  the  Danish  traditions  were  derived, 
the  old  Scandinavian  manuscripts  being  notoriously  interpo 
lated.  Finally,  if  we  give  up  the  Apple  as  legendary,  it  will 
not  follow  that  the  substantial  portions  of  the  history  are  un- 
authentic.  They  are  supported  by  widely  prevailing  and 
unbroken  traditions,  records  nearly  contemporary,  public 
monuments,  and  national  institutions.  In  fact,  they  compose 
a  part  of  the  historical  treasure  of  the  modern  world,  of  which 
it  will  not  easily  allow  itself  to  be  despoiled.  There  are  cer 
tain  grand  events  and  results,  in  history,  in  letters,  in  politics, 
and  morals,  which  defy  the  sceptic,  and  laugh  to  scorn  a  pre 
tentious  and  half-learned  criticism.  They  find  an  echo  some 
times  in  the  sound  common  sense,  sometimes  in  the  patriotic 

*  Gibbon's  Miscellaneous  works.    Vol.  III.,  p.  266. 


452          THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

sentiments,  sometimes  in  the  natural  sympathies ;  sometimes 
in  the  religious  instincts  of  the  masses — and  the  plausible  re 
finements  by  which  they  are  called  in  question,  after  a  brief 
popularity,  pass  into  oblivion. 

A  small  portion  of  Gessler's  stronghold  at  Ku'ssnacht 
remains,  and  a  little  distance  from  it  you  pass  through  the 
"  hollow  way,"  where  the  tyrant  met  his  fate.  As  we  entered 
it,  a  youth,  with  a  cross-bow,  sprang  into  the  road  before  us, 
and  earned  a  few  pence  by  showing  us  just  how  Tell  shot 
Gessler.  A  chapel  of  considerable  antiquity  marks  the  spot 
to  which  tradition  points  as  the  scene  of  this  remarkable 
occurrence. 


NUMBEK    FIFTY. 

GOLDAU,  ALOYS  REDING,  GRUTLI,  THE  TELLENSPRUNG. 

The  lake  of  Zug— The  destruction  of  Goldau— Mr.  Buckminster's  description  of  it- 
Account  of  it  by  Dr.  Zay  of  Arth,  an  eye-witness — Schwytz— Its  early  history — 
Events  of  1798 — Character  and  conduct  of  Aloys  Keding — Brunnen — Passage  to 
Altorf—  Grutli — The  three  founders  of  Swiss  Independence — The  Tellensprung — 
Enthusiasm  of  Sir  James  Mackintosh — The  Legends  of  the  Apple-shooting. 

FROM  Tell's  chapel  at  the  "  hollow  way,"  we  walked  on 
to  Immensee,  an  inviting  little  spot  on  the  Lake  of  Zug. 
Here  we  intended  to  take  a  boat  down  the  lake  to  Arth,  a 
thriving  village  at  its  lower  extremity,  but  clouds  began  to 
gather  on  the  opposite  sides  of  the  Righi  and  the  Rossberg ; 
the  surface  of  the  lake  became  rough  and  black ;  and  we 
found  the  boatmen  and  boatwomen  no  more  disposed  than 
ourselves  to  take  the  risk  of  the  threatening  squall,  which, 
however,  did  not  burst  upon  us.  Pursuing  our  way  by  a 
footpath  along  the  shores  of  the  lake  to  Arth,  we  soon  had 
the  counterpart  of  the  scene  which  had  driven  us  from  the 
water.  The  wind  came  round  to  the  pleasant  quarter ;  the 
stormful  clouds  retreated  sullenly  from  the  Rossberg;  a 
bright  sunshine  lighted  up  Righi,  and  the  little  lake  was  soon 
as  smooth  and  as  bright  as  a  mirror. 

Tourists  who  ascend  Righi  stop  at  Arth  for  guides ;  but 
the  uncertainty  of  clear  weather  led  us  to  forego  that  laborious 
excursion.  Taking  a  char-a-banc  at  Arth  for  Schwytz,  we 
pursued  our  way  over  the  site  of  Goldau.  It  was  now  just 
twelve  years  since  the  shocking  event  that  buried  that  and 


454:          THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS. 

the  neighboring  villages  in  ruins.  Goldau  (the  golden  meadow) 
was  the  name  of  the  fertile  and  picturesque  vale  between  the 
Rossberg  and  the  Righi,  through  which  lay  the  road  from 
Arth  to  Schwytz,  passing  through  a  succession  of  four  or 
five  prosperous  villages.  The  account  of  Dr.  Zay,  a  resident 
at  Arth,  and  an  eye-witness  of  the  scene,  is  the  source  from 
which  subsequent  tourists  have  derived  their  descriptions.  I 
must,  however,  except  from  this  remark  the  Rev.  Mr.  Buck- 
minster,  who  being  in  Switzerland  about  the  time  the  disaster 
happened,  passed  over  the  ruins  a  week  afterwards,  while 
those  who  escaped  were  still  seeking  to  recover  their  friends 
that  had  been  buried,  some  of  whom  were  believed  to  be  still 
alive.  His  account  must  have  been  written  before  Dr.  Zay's 
was  published. 

"Birds  of  prey,"  says  he,  "attracted  by  the  smell  of  dead  bodies, 
were  hovering  all  about  the  valley.  The  general  impression  made  upon 
us  by  the  sight  of  such  an  extent  of  desolation,  connected  too  with  the 
idea,  that  hundreds  of  wretched  creatures  were  at  that  moment  alive, 
buried  under  a  mass  of  earth,  and  inaccessible  to  the  cries  and  labors 
of  their  friends,  was  too  horrible  to  be  described  or  understood."  * 

Mr.  Buckminster's  graphic  account  of  this  most  disastrous 
event  concludes  with  the  following  striking  remark  : 

"I  cannot  but  reflect  upon  my  weakness  in  complaining  of  our  long 
delay  at  Strasburg.  If  we  had  not  been  detained  there  ten  days,  wait 
ing  for  our  passports,  we  should  have  been  in  Switzerland  the  3d  of 
September,  probably  in  the  vicinity  of  the  lake  of  Lowertz — perhaps 
under  the  ruins  of  Goldau." 

The  destruction  of  Goldau  and  the  neighboring  villages 
was  caused  by  a  slide  from  the  side  of  the  overhanging  moun 
tain,  the  Rossberg.  The  summer  of  1806  had  been  unusu- 

*  Mr.  Buckminster's  interesting  account  of  the  destruction  of  Goldau  is  contained 
in  a  letter  to  his  friend,  Arthur  M.  Walter,  Esq.,  -written  on  the  2Cth  Sept.,  1806 
from  Geneva,  and  printed  in  the  notes  to  Mr.  Thacher  s  memoir  of  him  in  the  first 
volume  of  his  sermons. 


THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS.  455 

ally  wet,  and  on  the  1st  and  2d  of  September  it  rained 
incessantly.  The  deposits  of  clay,  deep  below  the  surface  of 
the  mountain,  became  softened  and  swelled,  and  the  superin 
cumbent  mass,  lying  at  a  considerable  angle  to  the  horizon, 
began  to  move.  Crevices  were  seen  to  open  on  the  surface  ; 
a  cracking  noise  was  heard  from  within  ;  stones  started  from 
the  ground ;  rocks  rolled  down  the  mountain.  At  two 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  2d  September,  a  large  rock 
became  loose,  and  in  falling  raised  a 'cloud  of  black  dust. 
Toward  the  lower  part  of  the  mountain  the  ground  seemed  as 
pressed  downward  by  the  weight  above.  When  a  stick  or 
spade  was  driven  in,  it  moved  of  itself  with  the  ground  in 
which  it  was  placed.  A  man  who  had  been  digging  in  his 
garden  ran  away  with  fright  at  these  extraordinary  appear 
ances.  Soon  a  fissure  larger  than  all  the  others  was  ob 
served  ;  insensibly  it  increased ;  springs  of  water  ceased  all 
at  once  to  flow;  the  pine  trees  of  the  forest  absolutely  reeled ; 
the  birds  flew  away  screaming.  A  few  minutes  before  five 
o'clock,  the  symptoms  of  some  mighty  catastrophe  became 
still  stronger  ;  the  whole  surface  of  the  mountain  seemed  to 
slide  down,  but  so  slowly,  as  to  afford  time  to  some  of  the 
inhabitants  to  escape.  This,  however,  was  but  very  partially 
the  case.  Over  a  hundred  houses  were  buried  in  the  ruins  or 
crushed  to  atoms  by  the  furious  avalanche  of  earth  and  rocks, 
and  between  four  and  five  hundred  human  beings  perished. 
In  one  case  an  old  man,  who  had  often  predicted  some  such 
disaster,  was  quietly  smoking  his  pipe  \vhen  told  by  a  young 
person  running  by,  that  the  mountain  was  in  the  act  of  falling, 
He  rose  and  looked  out,  but  came  into  his  house  again,  saying 
he  had  time  to  fill  another  pipe.  The  young  man,  continuing 
to  fly,  was  thrown  down  several  times  by  the  rush  of  the 
driving  fragments,  but  finally  escaped.  Looking  back,  he 
saw  the  house  in  which  the  old  man  had  loitered  to  fill  his 
pipe,  dashed  off  to  destruction. 

A  party  of  eleven  travellers  from  Berne,  belonging  to  the 


450  THE   MOUNT    VKKNO.N    J'Al'KliS. 

most  distinguished  families  there,  arrived  at  Arth  on  the  fatal 
2d  of  September,  and  started  on  foot  for  the  liighi,  a  few 
minutes  before  the  catastrophe.  Seven  of  the  party  preceded 
the  others  and  had  just  entered  the  village  of  Gohhiu.  The 
other  four  were  u  little  behind,  and  were  looking  through  a 
teleseope  at  the  summit  of  the  Rossbcrg — four  miles  oft'  in  a 
straight  line ;  where  some  strange  commotion  seemed  to  be 
taking  place.  All  at  once  a  flight  of  stones  like  cannon  balls 
shot  through  the  air  'above  their  heads ;  a  cloud  of  dust  ob 
scured  the  valley  ;  a  frightful  noise  was  heard ;  they  fled  ! 
As  soon  as  the  dust  and  darkness  had  cleared  up  so  that  they 
could  see,  they  sought  their  friends  who  had  preceded  them ; 
but  the  village  of  Goldau  had  disappeared  under  a  heap  of 
stones  and  rubbish,  one  hundred  feet  in  height,  and  the  whole 
valley  was  a  chaos  !  Of  the  four  survivors  one  lost  a  bride 
to  whom  ho  was  just  married,  one  a  son,  a  third  two  pupils 
under  his  care.  All  efforts  and  researches  to  recover  their 
remains  proved  unavailing.  Nothing  was  left  of  Goldau  but 
the  bell  which  hung  in  its  steeple,  and  which  was  found  at  the 
distance  of  about  a  mile. 

These,  and  other  striking  and  pathetic  anecdotes  of  the 
destruction  of  Goldau  are  given  by  Dr.  Zay,  from  whom  they 
are  copied  by  Mr.  Sirnond  and  the  "  Hand-book."  As  we 
traversed  the  spot  twelve  years  afterward,  it  was  still  a  dis 
mal  ruin.  No  attempt  had  been  made  to  rebuild  the  vil 
lages  ;  instead  of  the  "  golden  valley,"  the  road  from  Arth  to 
Schwytz  now  passed  over  a  continuous  ridge  of  barren  rocks 
and  gravel,  bare  or  covered  with  a  rank  growth  of  weeds  and 
coarse  grasses.  A  chapel  and  an  inn  were  the  only  buildings 
which,  in  1818,  marked  the  spot  where  Goldau  had  been. 

Lalande,  in  the  first  volume  of  his  travels  in  Italy,  p.  47, 
mentions  some  examples  of  catastrophes  of  this  kind  still 
more  shocking.  The  most  remarkable  of  these  is  that  which 
befell  the  village  of  Plcurs,  in  the  Grisons,  in  1018,  when  two 
thousand  persons  perished  in  the  ruins.  There  are  traces  in 


TUB  MOUNT  YERNON  PAPERS.          45? 

the  vale  of  Goldau  of  former  slides  of  the  Rossberg,  as  the 
streets  of  Hereulaneum  are  paved  with  lavas  from  older  and 
otherwise  forgotten  eruptions. 

After  emerging  from  the  desolation  of  the  mined  villages, 
wo  pursued  our  way  through  a  delightful  vale,  that  of  Sehwy  tz, 
the  counterpart,  no  doubt,  of  what  Goldau  was.  Schwytz,  or, 
as  it  might  more  properly  be  written,  Sehweiz,  ia  the  very 
central  point  of  Switzerland,  which  is,  in  their  own  language, 
called  Die  Schweiz.  Why  one  of  the  smallest  of  the  Cantons, 
with  a  moderate-sized  village  for  its  capital,  should  give  its 
name  to  the  entire  Helvetic  Confederacy,  it  may  not  be  easy 
to  say.  Popular  tradition  assigns  as  a  reason  for  this  prefer 
ence,  that  the  patriots  from  this  Canton  took  the  lead,  and 
distinguished  themselves  for  their  bravery  at  the  great  battle 
of  Morgarten,  in  1815. 

The  picturesque  mountain,  called  the  Myten,  rises  direct 
ly  behind  Sehwy  tz,  and  seems  to  threaten  it  one  day  with  the 
fate  of  Goldau.  In  front  you  catch  a  fine  view  of  the  Lake  of 
the  four  Cantons,  at  a  distawco  of  about  three  miles,  between 
the  lofty  summits  which  recede  from  each  other,  as  if  to  open 
the  prospect. 

The  citizens  of  Schwytz  arc  justly  proud  of  the  placo 
which  it  holds  in  the  history  of  their  country.  They  ex 
hibit  in  the  public  armory  the  standards  taken  from  the  Aus- 
trians  at  Morgarten,  in  1815,  with  the  banners  borne  by  their 
fathers  at  the  other  great  battle-fields  of  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  centuries.  I  own  I  looked  with  respectful  emotion 
at  these  tattered  and  dusty  memorials  of  conflicts,  which  will 
be  remembered  in  history  with  those  of  Marathon  and  Platoea, 
of  Bunker  Hill  and  King's  Mountain. 

Rut  Schwytz  is  not  obliged  to  go  back  to  the  middle  nges 
for  her  patriotic  recollections.  The  great  leader  of  the  heroic, 
resistance  made  to  the  French  in  1708,  Aloys  Reding,  the 
master  spirit  of  the  patriotic  movement  of  that  day,  was  a 
citizen  of  Schwytz,  and  died  but  a  few  months  before  our  visit 
20 


4:58       ,   THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEES. 

to  the  Canton.  This  distinguished  patriot,  in  his  youth 
served  in  the  armies  of  Spain,  and  if  I  mistake  not  was  at  one 
time  with  his  regiment  in  the  Island  of  Cuba.  Retiring  with 
honor  from  the  Spanish  service  in  1788,  he  was  elected  chief 
magistrate  of  his  native  Canton.  When  the  French  Directo 
ry  sent  their  armies  into  Switzerland  ten  years  afterwards,  to 
force  the  new  constitution  upon  that  devoted  country,  Aloys 
Reding  organized  the  resistance  of  the  democratic  Cantons, 
and  led  their  armies. 

I  gained  great  favor  with  our  guide,  on  the  way  to 
Schwytz,  by  questioning  him  about  Aloys  Reding.  When  I 
asked  him  if  it  was  true,  that  some  of  the  women  fought  with 
their  infants  on  their  left  arms,  he  exchanged  a  smile  with  his 
young  wife,  who  was  walking  by  his  side  with  a  market 
basket,  and  said,  "  If  she  had  been  old  enough  at  the  time  to 
know  what  was  passing,  she  could  vouch  for  the  fact." 

From  Schwytz  we  proceeded  to  "  the  charming  village  " 
of  Brunnen,  a  distance  of  about  three  miles.  This  place  is  the 
port  of  Schwytz,  and  lies  upon  the  lake  of  the  Four  Cantons, 
at  the  mouth  of  the  little  river  Muotta.  You  would  not 
think  it  possible  that  a  village  in  this  secluded  spot,  nestled 
at  the  foot  of  Alpine  crags,  and  on  the  shore  of  the  central 
lake  of  Switzerland,  walled  in  on  almost  every  side  by  some 
of  the  highest  mountains  of  Europe,  could  be  a  place  of  active 
business.  Such,  however,  is  the  fact ;  the  cattle  from  the 
Northern  Swiss  Cantons  are  driven  down  to  Brunnen,  there 
embarked  in  flat-bottomed  boats  to  cross  the  lake  to  Altorf, 
and  being  landed  there,  are  driven  up  the  valley  of  the  Reuss, 
and  by  the  pass  of  St.  Gothard  into  Italy.  In  the  course  of 
the  year  immense  droves  take  this  route,  and  at  certain  sea 
sons  fill  Brunnen  with  the  noise  and  movement  of  trade. 
Quite  a  flotilla  of  boats  was  collected  to  convey  some  droves 
across  the  lake,  which  were  expected  the  next  day,  en  route 
for  a  fair  at  Lugano.  The  Angelus  was  sounding  from  the 
steeple  of  the  parish  church  at  Schwytz  as  we  left  it  at  six 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEES.  459 

o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  the  neighboring  peasantry  were 
flocking  to  early  mass.  Brunnen,  like  Schwytz,  is  honorably 
associated  with  the  annals  of  Switzerland.  It  was  here  that 
the  confederation  between  the  three  pioneer  Cantons  (Unter- 
walden,  Uri,  and  Schwytz)  was  formed  after  the  battle  of 
Morgarten  in  1315 ;  and  here  that  Aloys  Reding  established 
the  short-lived  league  between  the  same  Cantons  in  1798, 
when  they  rose  against  the  armies  of  the  Directory. 

We  were  compelled,  when  on  the  point  of  embarking  for 
Altorf,  to  enter  into  much  such  a  discussion  about  the  weather, 
as  that  which  is  contained  in  the  first  act  of  Schiller's  Wilhelm 
Tell,  where  Baumgarten  is  urging  the  boatmen  to  carry  him 
across  the  lake  from  the  opposite  shore.  It  is  well  known 
that  while  engaged  upon  this  beautiful  drama,  Schiller  ex 
plored  the  localities  with  great  care ;  and  for  a  short  time  the 
splendid  passage,  to  which  I  have  alluded,  might  have  been 
taken  for  a  description  of  that  which  was  passing  before  our 
eyes.  But,  after  waiting  about  an  hour,  the  wind  shifted,  and 
our  boatmen  ventured  out  with  their  not  very  stanch-looking 
craft. 

The  shores  of  this  part  of  the  lake  are  in  strong  contrast 
with  those  along  which  we  coasted  from  Stanzstade  to  Lu 
cerne  ;  there  every  thing  was  soft  and  placid  ;  here  dreary 
perpendicular  walls,  towering  up  from  the  lake,  frowned  over 
the  dark  surface  of  the  waters. 

We  stood  over  the  lake  to  the  shores  of  Uri,  and  landed 
at  Grutli  or  Rutli.  This  is  the  spot,  where  the  ever  memo 
rable  founders  of  Helvetic  liberty  met  by  night — Werner 
StaufFacher  of  Schwytz,  Arnold  Melchthal  of  Unterwalden,  and 
Walther  of  Attinghausen  of  Uri— and  took  the  solemn  oath 
"  to  be  faithful  to  each  other,  but  to  do  no  wrong  to  the  Count 
of  Hapsburg."  Sir  James  Mackintosh  thinks  "  these  poor 
mountaineers  in  the  fourteenth  century  furnish  perhaps  the 
only  example  of  insurgents,  who,  at  the  moment  of  revolt, 
bind  themselves  as  sacredly  to  be  just  and  merciful  to  their 


460  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

oppressors  as  faithful  to  each  other.  "  *  But  the  obligation 
strongly  resembles  in  spirit  the  sentiments  of  the  Petition  of 
the  Congress  of  1774  to  the  King,  in  which  the  statement  of 
the  grievances,  which  had  brought  the  colonies  to  the  verge 
of  revolution,  is  accompanied  by  the  warmest  professions  of 
loyalty  to  the  person  and  government  of  their  Count  of  Habs- 
burg,  George  III.  Our  guide,  who  said  that  he  and  his  asso 
ciates  had  bought  the  spot  of  the  Canton,  vouched  for  the 
authenticity  of  the  tradition  of  the  three  springs,  which  is 
more  than  I  can  venture  to  do.  The  separation  from  one 
fountain  wears  every  appearance  of  being  artificial.  The 
guide  asked  if  we  would  like  to  hear  some  poetry.  I  was  in 
hopes  he  was  going  to  treat  us  to  an  ancient  national  ballad, 
but  it  turned  out  to  be  some  well-meant,  but  indifferent  lines 
denouncing  the  French  invasion  of  1798. 

From  Griitli  we  crossed  to  the  other  side  of  the  lake, 
which  is  here  quite  narrow,  and  came  to  TeWs  Chapel,  on  the 
rock  upon  which,  according  to  the  tradition,  he  leaped  from 
the  boat  in  which  Gessler  was  conveying  him  to  Kussnacht. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  localities  which  makes  the  fact  im 
probable,  or  very  difficult.  Although  it  is  frequently  re 
marked  that  the  contemporary  records  are 'silent,  not  only 
with  respect  to  the  Apple,  but  the  other  traditions  of  Tell, 
Mr.  Simond  states,  as  a  matter  of  history,  that  eighty-one 
years  after  the  event  took  place  (which  is  two  years  less  than 
the  interval  which  has  elapsed  since  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence),  a  chapel  was  constructed  on  this  rock,  and  that 
one  hundred  and  fourteen  individuals  who  had  known  Tell 
were  then  living. 

The  present  chapel  is  of  later  date,  and  covered  on  the 
interior  with  coarse  frescoes,  representing  the  principal  events 
in  Tell's  life.  That  of  his  leaping  on  the  rock  has  been  lately 
renewed,  and  in  a  style  much  superior  to  the  rest.  A  sermon 

*  Life  of  Sir  James  Mackintosh  by  his  Son.    Vol.  II.  p.  807. 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  461 

is  annually  preached  from  the  Tellensprung  (Tell's  Leap,} 
commemorative  of  the  event,  and  the  hearers  assembling  from 
the  neighboring  Cantons,  gather  round  the  rock  in  their  boats. 
Sir  James  Mackintosh  says  : 

"The  combination  of  what  is  grandest  in  Nature  with  whatever  is 
pure  and  sublime  in  human  conduct,  affected  me  in  this  passage,  more 
powerfully  than  any  scene  I  had  ever  seen.  Perhaps  neither  Greece  nor 
Rome  would  have  had  such  power  over  me.  *  *  *  Griitli  and  Tell's 
Chapel  are  as  much  reverenced  by  the  Alpine  peasants  as  Mecca  by  a 
devout  Musulman." 

I  reserve  a  few  remarks,  in  addition  to  those  made  in  my 
last  Number,  on  the  alleged  plurality  of  Apple-shooting  le 
gends,  till  we  make  our  visit  to  Altorf  next  wsek,  and  stand 
on  the  spot  consecrated  by  Switzerland  as  the  scene  of  the 
event. 


NUMBEK   FIFTY-ONE. 

ALTORF,  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  REUSS,  THE  VALAIS. 

The  Canton  of  Uri— The  traditions  of  Tell— Valley  of  the  Keuss— Wildnoss  of  the 
scene — The  Devil's  bridge —The  army  of  Suwarrow  in  1799 — Andermatt — Head 
waters  of  the  Ticino — Short  Alpine  summer — Passage  of  the  Furca — Glacier  of 
the  Ehone— The  Valais— the  Brieg— The  Simplon  road— Farewell  to  Switzer 
land. 

A  SHORT  sail  from  TelTs  Leap  brings  you  to  Fluelen,  the 
little  port  of  Altorf.  The  lake  is  here  narrow,  a  sort  of 
arm  of  the  lake  of  the  Four  Sylvan  Cantons,  pushing  its  way 
up  into  the  heart  of  Uri,  the  smallest  and  the  feeblest  mem 
ber  of  the  Swiss  Confederacy,  not  supposed  in  1818  to  con 
tain  more  than  eleven  or  twelve  thousand  inhabitants. 
Among  them,  however,  are  said  to  be  the  finest  specimens 
of  Swiss  muscle  and  blood,  after  the  type  of  the  men  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  The  weather  became  fine  as  we  pushed 
off  from  the  Tellensprung,  and  we  made  the  rest  of  the  way 
under  the  dark  shadow  of  the  perpendicular  rocks,  which  in 
some  places  rise  to  the  height  of  eight  hundred  feet  on  the 
eastern  shore  of  the  lake,  while  the  opposite  coast  was  kind 
ling  in  sunshine.  Nowhere  are  the  contrasts  of  Nature  so 
sharply  defined  as  in  the  Swiss  mountains. 

Fluelen  is  the  counterpart  of  Brunnen,  a  little  landing- 
place  from  the  lake,  and  it  is  here  that  the  Reuss  finds  its 
outlet.  The  whole  character  of  the  scene,  which  wore  the 
aspect  of  almost  oppressive  seclusion,  when  I  passed  through 
it,  is  doubtless  changed  by  the  arrival  and  departure  two  or 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  463 

three  times  a  day  of  the  steamer  from  Lucerne.  We  com 
mitted  our  baggage  to  the  stout  shoulders  of  Helvetian  por 
ters,  and  walked  up  to  Altorf,  a  distance  of  two  miles.  This 
is  a  place  of  no  great  account,  its  population,  thirteen  or 
fourteen  hundred,  with  visible  traces  of  a  fire  which  had, 
about  twenty  years  before,  laid  it  in  ruins.  But  this  is 
ALTORF  ;  the  point  of  central  interest  in  the  early  history  of 
Switzerland  ;  for  here,  according  to  the  tradition,  is  the  scene 
of  that  immortal  mountain  epic,  which  is  interwoven  with 
the  fibres  of  her  nationality.  Criticism,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  is  at  fault,  as  to  the  true  historical  foundation  of  the  le 
gend,  but  it  bears  and  will  bear  to  the  end  of  time  the  same 
relation  to  Switzerland,  that  the  "  tale  of  Troy  divine  "  bore 
to  Hellas ;  and  there  is,  to  say  the  least,  as  much  reason  to 
question  the  authenticity  of  the  one  as  of  the  other.  It  has 
recently  been  stated  that  this  feat  of  shooting  the  apple  from 
the  head  of  a  living  person  is  not  only  found  in  the  legendary 
Danish  history  of  Saxo  Grammaticus,  but  in  five  or  six  other 
Northern  legends  ;  nay,  that  it  is  common  among  "  the  Turks 
and  Mongolian  Tartars,"  and  that  it  is  found,  chapter  and 
verse,  among  "  the  wild  Samoyeds."  But  this  seems  to  me 
to  be  proving  too  much.  That  the  "  wild  Samoyeds,"  "  the 
Hottentots  of  the  North,"  as  they  are  called  by  Malte  Brun, 
can  produce  chapter  and  verse  for  this  or  any  other  legend  of 
the  middle  ages,  is  a  thing  much  more  easily  said  than  proved ; 
and  that  the  mountaineers  of  Uri  had,  either  in  the  fourteenth 
or  fifteenth  century  (when  this  legend  certainly  existed  in 
Switzerland)  pushed  their  antiquarian  researches  into  the 
Scandinavian  Sagas  and  the  chronicles  of  Saxo  Grammaticus, 
which  were  not  published  till  the  sixteenth  century,  or  the 
legends  of  the  Mongolian  Tartars,  is  equally  questionable. 
We  must,  however,  pay  that  respect  to  honest  Saxo,  which 
Tell  would  not  pay  Gessler's  cap,  and  respectfully  bow  to  the 
monkish  chronicler,  from  whom  Shakespeare  borrowed  the 
outlines  of  HAMLET  !  Mythical  or  historical,  Altorf  is  not  the 


464          THE  MOUNT  VERNON  PAPERS. 

place  to  question  the  traditions  of  Tell.  One  might  as  well 
deny  the  story  of  King  John  at  Kunnymede,  or  maintain  that 
Miles  Standish  is  a  myth  at  Plymouth. 

A  fountain  in  the  market-place  of  Altorf  marks  the  spot 
where  Tell  stood  when  he  shot  the  apple  from  his  son's  head, 
and  it  is  stated  that  the  linden  against  which  the  lad  was  placed, 
existed,  in  a  decayed  state,  till  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  Another  fountain  has  "been  placed  upon  the  spot 
where  it  grew.  And  now  if  all  this  humble  prose  shall  in 
duce  the  readers  of  the  LEDGER  to  turn  to  the  third  scene  of 
the  third  act  of  Schiller's  William  Tell,  in  the  original  if  pos 
sible,  if  not  in  Mr.  Brooks'  translation,  they  will  not  regret 
the  time  we  have  devoted  to  the  topic. 

At  Altorf  we  took  horses  to  pass  up  the  valley  of  the 
Eeuss.  The  rate  of  speed  promised  us  may  be  judged  from 
the  fact  that  our  guide  accompanied  us  on  foot.  Schiller's 
exquisite  drama — a  better  guide — minutely  describes  the  road. 
We  turned  a  little  out  of  our  way  to  pass  through  Biirglen, 
the  village  where  Tell  lived.  A  chapel  occupies  the  spot 
on  which  his  house  is  believed  to  have  stood.  A  lineal  de 
scendant,  John  Martin  Tell,  died  as  late  as  1684,  and  the  fam 
ily  became  extinct,  by  the  death  of  a  female  descendant  in 
1720.  These  facts  give  an  air  of  authenticity  to  his  personal 
history,  which,  after  all,  does  not  go  back  beyond  the  reach 
of  the  parish  Registers  of  every  part  of  Europe.  Opposite 
to  Biirglen  is  Attinghausen,  the  domain  of  Tell's  father-in-law, 
one  of  the  immortal  conspirators  of  Grutli. 

The  valley  of  the  Reuss  is  far  more  romantic  and  pictu 
resque  than  that  of  the  Arve,  which  is  described  in  the  forty- 
second  number  of  these  papers.  The  chasms  through  which 
it  passes  are  narrower,  and  the  precipices  along  which  you 
wind,  at  considerable  elevation,  are  of  an  alarming  declivity. 
At  times  you  enter  a  chill  ravine,  with  a  roaring  torrent  at 
the  bottom,  that  fills  the  air  with  a  powdery  spray  ;  while 
a  cold  wind  drawing  down  the  narrow  road-wny  seems  to  re- 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  465 

pel  the  intruder.  In  some  places  the  path  on  the  mountain 
side  is  shaded  by  noble  fir  trees.  Where  this  is  the  case  you 
see  at  intervals  the  furrow  of  the  avalanche,  which  has 
ploughed  up  the  growth  of  centuries.  In  several  places  you 
cross  bridges  of  a  single  arch,  suspended  aloft  above  the  tor 
rent.  Such  is  the  scene  as  far  as  Goeschenen.  Here  it  as 
sumes  a  wilder  character.  You  are  approaching  the  dividing 
point  of  the  Alpine  waters  ;  those  behind  you  pass  off  to  the 
Rhine,  and  you  are  not  far  from  the  Glacier  of  the  Rhone ; 
one  system  of  waters  bound  to  the  Mediterranean,  the  other 
to  the  German  Ocean  !  You  soon  reach  the  limit  of  fertility, 
and  rapidly  ascending,  as  you  proceed,  find  yourself  in  a 
chasm  between  two  mountain  walls  of  bare,  iron-bound  rock. 
The  path  lies  upon  the  declivity  on  one  side  of  the  chasm. 
The  sun  had  already  sunk  behind  the  summits  that  surrounded 
us  ; — it  was  bleak  and  gusty  ;  our  guide  had  stopped  to  gos 
sip  with  some  Freyschuteen,  at  the  last  village,  and  left  us 
to  find  our  way  alone,  through  these  silent  and  desolate  de 
files.  Our  faithful  animals,  to  whom  we  gave  the  reins,  found 
it  for  us.  The  only  sound  heard  was  the  raving  torrent  and 
the  tramp  of  the  horses  on  the  rock,  like  that  of  the  Com 
mander's  marble  foot  in  Don  Giovanni.  At  lengh  we  reached 
a  gallery  of  considerable  length,  in  the  perpendicular  rock, 
and  terminating  at  the  famous  DeviVs  Bridge.  This  was  a 
bridge  of  a  single  arch,  thrown  across  the  Reuss  from  wall 
to  wall,  at  the  height  of  sixty  feet  from  the  water.  At  this 
ill-named  spot,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  bridge,  we  encoun 
tered  a  flock  of  mountain  sheep  on  their  way  down  the  valley. 
They  were  alarmed  at  our  horses,  which,  in  their  turn,  were 
somewhat  startled  at  the  violent  rush  of  the  sheep,  urged  by 
reckless  shepherds  and  fierce  mountain  dogs.  A  good  deal 
of  earnestness  was  manifested,  I  must  confess,  on  both  sides, 
not  to  be  detruded  over  the  low  parapet  into  the  torrent. 
We  passed  the  bridge  in  safety,  and  immediately  entered 
another  gallery  cut  in  the  solid  rock. 


466  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEES. 

The  traveller  of  the  present  day  knows  nothing  but  by 
tradition  of  the  passage  of  the  ancient  Devil's  Bridge  over  the 
Eeuss.  The  modern  structure  is  solid,  fenced  in  by  lofty 
parapets,  and  approached  by  a  convenient  terraced  pathway 
on  each  side.  It  is  nearer  the  plunging  cataract  of  the 
Eeuss  than  the  old  bridge,  but  this  last  is  (or  was,  for  I  know 
not  if  it  is  still  standing)  so  narrow,  its  pathway  so  exposed, 
and  its  whole  appearance  so  insecure,  that  it  really  seemed 
unsafe  to  cross ;  particularly  if  you  had  to  force  your  way  on 
horseback,  through  a  flock  of  wild  sheep,  driven  forward  by 
clamorous  shepherds  and  their  dogs.  Our  guide  informed  us 
that  when  the  army  of  Suwarrow  was  pursuing  the  French 
in  this  gorge  in  1799,  finding  the  bridge  blown  up,  the  Rus 
sians  made  a  temporary  bridge,  over  which  they  crossed,  by 
tying  small  timbers  together  with  the  silken  sashes  of  the 
officers.  The  Hand-book  says  it  was  not  the  Devil's  Bridge 
that  was  thus  blown  up,  but  a  smaller  arch  over  one  of  the 
lateral  torrents,  which  is  more  probable.  Alison,  however, 
who  rather  affects  the  graphic,  represents  the  Devil's  Bridge 
as  being  blown  up,  and  says  that  the  Russians  in  their  march, 
"  found  an  impassable  gulf  two  hundred  feet  deep,  surmounted 
by  precipices  above  a  thousand  feet  high,"  and  swept  by  a 
murderous  fire  from  the  enemy's  artillery.*  There  is  no 
more  frightful  chapter  in  the  history  of  modern  warfare  than 
the  Campaigns  of  1798  and  1799  in  Switzerland. 

Passing  through  the  gallery  I  have  just  menticneil,  called 
the  Hole  of  Uri  (Urner  Loch,)  you  leave  the  terrors  of  the 
Reuss  vale  behind.  You  now  enter  a  smooth,  green  plateau  ; 
encircled,  it  is  true,  by  rocky  walls  of  great  elevation,  but 
placed  at  a  considerable  distance,  and  enclosing,  as  it  were,  a 
secluded  garden  in  these  Alpine  solitudes.  The  elevation  is 
about  four  thousand  five  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
sea ;  the  air  was  shrewd  and  piercing ; — the  aspect  wintry. 

*  Alison,  Vol.  V.  p.  130. 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEKS.  467 

It  is  traversed  by  the  Reuss  and  its  little  tributary  the  Matt, 
and  lies  at  the  foot  of  St.  Gothard.  Thousands  of  travellers 
annually  pass  by  this  defile  into  and  from  Italy,  although  (in 
1818)  the  road  was  not  carriageable,  and  mules  or  litters  for 
the  timid  furnished  the  only  conveyance.  Pursuing  this  road, 
(which  we  did  not,)  you  soon  meet  a  dividing  ridge,  wrhich 
sends  its  waters  to  the  Ticino,  and  by  that  channel  to  the 
Adriatic.  The  Head  Springs,  accordingly,  are  not  very  re 
mote,  not  merely  from  those  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Rhone,  but 
of  the  Inn  and  other  tributaries  of  the  Danube  ;  fountains  of 
the  waters  which  that  noble  river,  traversing  Wiirtemberg, 
Bavaria,  Austria,  Hungary,  Temesvar,  and  Wallachia,  pours 
into  the  Black  Sea  ! 

At  "  The  Three  Kings  "  of  Andermatt,  wre  found  as  good 
fare  as  is  to  be  met  in  hotels  of  much  higher  pretensions,  and 
much  nearer  the  level  of  the  'ocean.  The  mountain  trout, 
fresh  from  the  crystal  waters  of  the  Matt,  formed  the  staple 
of  the  evening  repast ;  and  a  genial  fire,  civil  attendance,  and 
clean  beds,  seemed,  in  the  opinion  of  the  weary  travellers,  to 
entitle  the  quiet  Alpine  nook  to  the  name  which  Schiller  gives 
it,  "  the  Vale  of  Joy." 

We  started  early  in  the  morning  for  the  "Valais.  It  was 
the  day  before  Michaelmas,  which  closes  the  short  Alpine 
summer.  June,  July,  August,  and  September,  the  flocks  and 
herds  pass  on  the  mountains  ;  at  Michaelmas  they  come  down 
to  the  meadows  and  vales.  The  paths  were  filled  with  the 
animals  descending  to  their  long  winter  quarters  ;  but  where 
they  could  find  pasturage  in  the  wild  region  above  us  is  a 
mystery.  The  vale  of  Andermatt,  otherwise  called  Urseren, 
is  celebrated  for  the  manufacture  of  the  cheese  which  bears 
that  name,  and  is  of  the  quality  otherwise  called  Zapzeiger, 
that  is,  cheese  made  from  the  milk  of  sheep  and  goats.  At 
Andermatt  travellers  who  come  from  Altorf  on  horses  ex 
change  them  for  mules,  as  being  surer  of  foot  for  the  some 
what  difficult  pass  of  the  Furca. 


468  THE  MOUNT  VEKNOX  TAPERS. 

The  Furca  is  a  ridge  which  forms  the  boundary  between 
the  southern  extremity  of  Uri  and  the  Valais.  The  path  is 
steep  and  difficult  in  portions  of  the  way  along  the  very  pre 
cipitous  side  of  the  mountain,  in  which  in  some  places  holes 
are  cut  for  the  feet  of  the  mules.  This  seems  to  me  the  most 
dangerous  pass  I  had  ever  crossed  in  the  saddle,  and  indeed 
many  travellers  dismount.  I  must  confess  there  were  many 
places  where  I  preferred  trusting  the  mule's  feet  to  my  own. 
Our  guide  cautioned  us  not  to  strike  our  mules,  wThen  they 
halted,  before  setting  their  feet  in  critical  places.  "They 
know  what  they  are  about,"  said  he,  "  and  do  not  like  to  be 
hurried." 

Shortly  after  turning  the  summit  we  came  in  full  view  of 
the  glacier  of  the  Ehone,  and  at  length  began  to  pass  along 
its  front.  It  is  one  of  the  grandest  masses  of  ice  in  the  Alps. 
Having  seen  this  noble  stream  at  Lyons  and  at  Geneva,  it 
was  with  no  little  interest  that  we  beheld  its  headwaters 
bursting  from  the  glacier.  We  had  already  stood  by  the 
sources  of  the  Arve  and  Arveiron,  and  could  now  claim  some 
acquaintance  with  the  magnificent  river  which  springs  from 
them.  Scarcely  has  it  become  a  currrent  from  the  glacier, 
when  a  hundred  torrents  begin  to  bound  from  the  mountains, 
on  cither  side,  and  it  soon  swells  to  a  considerable  stream, 
foaming  over  rocks  which  obstruct  its  course,  eddying  round 
projecting  cliffs,  roaring  and  flashing  onward,  as  if  rejoicing 
to  run  its  race  to  the  ocean. 

A  distance  of  six  leagues  separates  the  last  l)uilidng  in 
Uri  from  the  first  in  the  Valais  ;  the  last  we  left  was  a  chapel, 
the  first  we  met  was  even  the  same ;  the  altar  has  moved 
further  upward  than  the  chalet,  into  the  recesses  of  these  Al 
pine  regions. 

We  passed  through  the  villages  of  Obcrwald,  Obergesteln, 
Mvinster,  and  Viesch,  all  lying  on  the  Ehone.  Before  enter 
ing  the  former,  the  river  plunges  into  a  deep,  gloomy  gorge, 
not  inferior  to  those  on  the  banks  of  the  Reuss.  At  Ober- 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEKS.  469 

gesteln,  towards  the  beginning  of  the  last  century,  eighty 
persons  were  overwhelmed  at  once  by  an  avalanche,  and  lie 
buried  side  by  side.  The  German  language,  as  the  names  of 
the  villages  indicate,  still  prevails  in  the  upper  Valais.  It  is 
to  this  region,  that  some  writers  have  referred  the  ridiculous 
notion  that  the  Goitre  is  deemed  an  ornament.  We  saw 
some  shocking  specimens  of  it  in  the  course  of  the  day.  M. 
Lalande,  who  had  travelled  in  the  Valais,  and  knew  that  no 
such  feeling  existed  there,  transplants  it  to  the  Tyrol.  Wo 
passed  the  night  comfortably  at  Laax. 

Resuming  our  journey  in  the  morning,  the  Valais  opening, 
and  the  Rhone  increasing  in  volume  as  we  proceeded,  we 
passed  through  several  villages  of  which  I  have  retained  noth 
ing  but  the  names,  and  in  two  or  three  hours  arrived  at  Brieg. 
This  is  the  starting  point  for  travellers  bound  for  Italy,  who 
descend  as  we  did  from  the  North,  and  those  from  the  South, 
who  have  occasion  to  pass  the  night  at  the  foot  of  the  Sim- 
plon,  stop  at  Brieg.  The  great  Simplon  road,  however,  com 
mences  not  at  Brieg,  but  at  a  little  place  called  Glys,  a  few 
miles  below.  At  Brieg  we  found  our  carriage  and  courier, 
who  had  come  directly  from  Geneva,  and  awaited  our  arrival 
from  our  circuit  round  the  central  Alps. 

Brieg  is  a  quiet  place  of  less  than  a  thousand  inhabitants, 
lying  on  a  little  tributary  of  the  Rhone,  which  here  makes  a 
sudden  bend.  It  is  built  of  a  sparkling  gneiss,  which  gives  it 
a  bright  metallic  appearance.  It  is  only,  I  believe,  since  the 
opening  of  the  Simplon  road,  that  it  has  acquired  any  noto 
riety.  This  magnificent  avenue  into  Italy  was  constructed 
by  Napoleon  the  First,  in  the  early  years  of  his  accession  to 
power.  The  expense  was  divided  between  France  and  the 
Kingdom  of  Italy.  The  distance,  by  the  road,  from  Glys  to 
Domo  d'Ossola  on  the  Italian  side,  is  given  at  fourteen 
French  leagues,  and  the  road  was  constructed  at  an  expense 
of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  per  mile.  This  seems  to  me 
a  very  low  estimate  for  a  road  through  such  localities.  The 


470  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEES. 

average  inclination  of  the  road  is  an  inch  in  three  feet ;  its 
width  twenty-six  feet,  and  the  height  above  the  sea,  at  the 
greatest  elevation  about  six  thousand  feet.  It  maintains  its 
moderate  and  equable  grade,  by  pursuing  a  very  circuitous 
path,  winding  round  heights,  which  it  could  not  possibly  scale 
in  any  other  way,  and  sometimes  taking  a  seemingly  retro 
grade  course.  It  is  furnished  with  culverts,  tunnels,  bridges, 
and  houses  of  refuge  in  great  numbers  ;  the  engineering  is  at 
once  audacious  and  solid ;  and  when  I  travelled  it  in  1818, 
though  the  mighty  genius  which  had  called  it  into  being  had 
passed  away,  and  the  two  governments  immediately  connected 
by  it  (Switzerland  and  Sardinia)  were  not  among  the  wealthy 
powers,  it  was  in  good  repair.  There  are  perhaps  no  monu 
ments  of  the  elder  Napoleon  which  will  carry  down  his  name 
to  the  grateful  recollections  of  posterity,  so  effectually  as  the 
magnificent  roads  of  Mt.  Cenis  and  the  Simplon. 

The  reader  who  has  done  me  the  favor  to  accompany  me 
in  these  rapid  and  simple  sketches,  will  think  I  linger  in  Swit 
zerland.  I  confess  that  I  quit  it  with  reluctance ;  it  has  ever 
had  a  peculiar  influence  for  me.  The  unequalled  magnificence 
and  beauty  of  the  scenery  in  its  range  from  the  quietest  to 
the  most  terrific  aspects  of  nature ;  the  network  of  lakes ; 
the  inaccessible  peaks ;  the  travelling  mountains  of  ice ;  the 
historic  traditions  and  patriotic  memories ;  the  simple  man 
ners,  free  institutions,  and  peculiar  political  position  of  these 
little  republics,  furnish  much  food  for  contemplation  and 
thought.  The  glaciers  are  the  central  fountains  which, 
through  four  of  her  great  rivers,  refresh  half  Europe ;  the 
mountain  fastnesses  of  Switzerland  have,  in  all  ages,  been  the 
strong  holds  of  Freedom,  and  the  barrier  against  Universal 
monarchy  ; — and  if  the  Fear  of  God  should  ever  flee  before 
the  corruption  of  city  and  plain,  it  will  surely  find  a  temple 
and  an  altar  in  the  glorious  Alps. 


NUMBEE    FIFTY-TWO. 

DANIEL  BOOK 

The  "  "West  "  suggestive  of  important  subjects  of  thought—Progress  of  settlement  in 
South  and  North  America— Conditions  of  life  on  the  gradually  receding  frontier 
—Sergeant  Plympton's  fate  in  1677— Daniel  Boon  the  great  Pioneer— His  life  by 
Mr.  W.  H.  Bogart— Account  of  his  family,  parentage,  and  birth— Kemoval  to 
North  Carolina  and  settlement  on  the  Yadkin— Marries  Eebecca  Bryan— Mission 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  in  America — Boon  with  five  companions  starts  in  quest 
of  Kentucky  in  17G9— First  sight  of— Captured  by  the  Indians— Escape— Meets 
his  brother  Squire— Squire  Boon's  return  to  the  settlement  for  supplies— They 
both  go  back  to  North  Carolina,  and  Daniel  determines  on  a  permanent  removal 
to  Kentucky. 

IT  has  ever  seemed  to  me  that  "  the  West "  furnishes  to 
the  American  citizen  some  of  the  highest  subjects  for  thought 
which  can  engage  his  attention.  They  multiply  and  increase 
in  importance  as  we  reflect  upon  it.  The  earth  which  we  in 
habit  was  destined  by  the  Creator  to  be  the  abode  of  rational 
beings  ;  and  the  manner  in  which  the  family  of  Man  has  be 
come  possessed  of  its  heritage  is  one  of  the  most  curious  and 
instructive  topics  of  historical  inquiry.  As  it  respects  what 
we  call  the  Old  World — the  united  continents  of  Europe, 
Asia,  and  Africa — the  gradual  steps  of  this  process  are  lost 
in  the  remoteness  of  Antiquity.  The  concurrent  testimony 
of  Scripture,  Tradition,  and  Language  point  to  Asia  as  the 
cradle  of  the  race,  but  they  throw  scarce  a  ray  of  light  on  the 
dispersion  of  mankind  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe. 

On  this  continent  the  case  is  different.  It  is  true  that  of 
the  original  peopling  of  America  History  teaches  nothing ; 
but  the  disclosure  of  the  Western  Continent  to  the  Eastern 


472  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

world,  and  the  steps  by  which  the  civilized  races  of  Europe 
have  established  themselves  in  the  new-found  hemisphere,  are 
of  comparatively  recent  occurrence,  and  within  the  domain  of 
authentic  history.  Some  of  the  most  important  steps  in  the 
great  movement  have  been  taken  within  the  lifetime  of  men 
now  in  existence. 

After  the  discovery  of  America  by  Columbus,  the  occupa 
tion  of  the  portion  claimed  by  Spain  and  Portugal  commenced 
almost  immediately,  and  was  permanently  completed  by  the 
end  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Besides  the  political  influence 
upon  the  European  system  of  these  vast  transatlantic  colonies, 
and  the  new  direction  given  by  them  to  the  commerce  of  the 
world,  the  influx  of  gold  and  silver  revolutionized  the  mon 
etary  relations  of  Europe. — Meantime,  the  American  Conti 
nent  North  of  Mexico  lay  neglected.  With  the  early  years 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  foundation  of  the  Anglo-Amer 
ican  colonies  was  laid ;  but  barren  as  they  were  of  the 
tropical  fruits  and  the  precious  metals,  their  progress  was 
not  hastened  by  those  keener  stimulants.  It  advanced  in  the 
slower  march  of  Agriculture,  and  under  the  influence  of  the 
moral  sentiments,  which  sent  the  Cavaliers  to  Virginia,  the 
Puritans  to  New  England,  and  the  Quakers  to  Pennsylvania. 
In  addition  to  this,  their  progress  was  obstructed  by  the 
conflicting  claims  of  France  and  England,  combined  with  the 
geographical  features  of  the  country — a  ridge  of  mountains 
rising  in  the  rear  of  the  Anglo-American  settlements,  and  be 
yond  them  a  chain  of  noble  rivers  and  lakes — the  mighty 
entrenchments — Nature's  gigantic  fosse  and  mound — which 
seemed  to  confine  the  English  settlements  to  a  strip  along 
the  coast.  By  these  causes,  and  mainly  by  the  political  re 
lations  of  France  and  England,  the  advance  of  civilization  be 
yond  the  Appalachian  mountains  was  retarded  for  a  century. 
With  every  rupture  between  the  leading  powers  of  Europe 
the  flames  of  savage  warfare  were  kindled  by  the  French 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  473 

along  the  frontier — from  Canada  to  the  farthest  English  settle 
ments  in  the  South. 

This  frontier  receded  slowly  to  the  westward,  as  the  set 
tlements  were  pushed  onward ;  but  the  Connecticut  River 
was  infested  by  parties  of  French  and  Indians  as  late  as  1755 ; 
powerful  tribes  of  savages  existed  in  the  State  of  New  York 
in  the  American  Revolution ;  the  first  white  settler  entered 
Kentucky  ninety  years  ago  ;  the  power  of  the  Aborigines  in 
Ohio  was  not  finally  broken  till  the  year  1794 ;  nor  in  the 
States  farther  West  till  the  war  of  1812.  The  western  part 
of  Georgia  and  the  States  of  Alabama  and  Mississippi  were 
opened  to  civilization  by  the  campaign  of  General  Jackson  in 
1818  ;  and  the  warlike  races  on  the  upper  Mississippi  occu 
pied  that  region  till  Black  Hawk's  war  in  1833. 

In  this  way  that  conflict  has  taken  place,  in  part  within 
our  own  time  and  beneath  our  own  eyes,  between  a  civilized 
and  a  barbarous  race,  which  took  place  in  the  west  of  Europe 
in  the  days  of  Julius  Caesar.  Its  recurrence  whenever  the  two 
are  brought  into  contact,  is  one  of  the  saddest  mysteries  of 
our  Nature. 

In  the  progress  of  this  conflict,  commencing  with  the  first 
settlement  of  the  country,  many  most  interesting  and  roman 
tic  occurrences,  as  I  have  observed  in  a  former  Number  of 
these  papers,  have  taken  place,  and  many  original  and  strongly- 
marked  characters  have  been  formed.  The  conditions  of  life 
on  the  frontier,  and  in  the  territory  beyond  the  frontier, 
whether  in  peace  (if  peace  ever  existed  on  the  frontier)  or  in 
the  warfare  with  the  native  tribes,  are  so  utterly  remote  from 
those  of  civilized  life,  that  in  the  older  settlements  we  proba 
bly  form  a  very  faint  idea  of  the  new  influences,  under  which 
men  live  and  act  who  lead  the  advancing  column  into  the 
wilderness.  We  everywhere  find,  however,  that  there  was 
a  spirit  of  adventure,  an  endurance,  an  alertness,  a  fertility  of 
resource,  a  courage,  in  a  word  a  heroism,  on  the  part  of  men 
and  women,  equal  to  the  circumstances  in  which  they  were 


474  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

placed.  The  fields  were  tilled  as  industriously,  when  the 
farmer  had  to  carry  his  musket  along  with  the  implements  of 
husbandry,  as  they  are  now  in  the  safe  neighborhood  of  our 
great  cities.  Men  wrent  to  the  log-church  on  the  frontier, 
whose  crannies  admitted  the  drifting  snow,  though  they  were 
obliged  to  go  armed,  as  regularly  as  they  now  roll  in  luxu 
rious  chariots  to  carpeted  temples  in  fashionable  squares.  The 
wave  of  settlement  swelled  steadily  up  to  the  frontier,  though 
the  pioneer  was  subject  to  the  risk  of  Indian  captivity,  and 
death  in  its  direst  forms.  From  a  narrative,  recently  reprint 
ed  by  the  Bradford  Society  at  New  York,  of  the  surprise  of  a 
party  working  in  the  fields  at  Hatfield,  in  1677,  it  appears 
that  one  of  the  poor  creatures  captured  was,  for  no  visible 
cause  but  that  of  savage  caprice,  burned  alive  in  the  neighbor 
hood  of  Chambly.  Horrors  like  this  were  perpetrated  in 
Ohio,  as  late,  if  I  mistake  not,  as  1789. 

Of  all  the  pioneers  of  civilization  in  this  country,  no  one 
name  stands  out  so  prominently  and  distinctly  as  that  of  Daniel 
Boon.  The  contemporary  records  of  his  adventures  are  imper 
fect,  and  his  autobiographical  recollections  are  strangely  traves 
tied  in  the  inflated  style  of  Filson,  to  \vhom  he  narrated  them. 
Still  the  tale  of  his  wanderings  has  upon  the  whole  been  well 
preserved  ;  and  satisfactory  accounts  of  his  remarkable  career 
have  been  given  to  the  public.  The  most  recent  of  these  is 
Mr.  W.  H.  Bogart's  interesting  work,  entitled,  "  Daniel  Boon 
and  the  Hunters  of  Kentucky."  He  modestly  calls  it  a  com 
pilation,  and  makes  ample  acknowledgment  of  the  aid  derived 
from  his  predecessors.  But  the  materials  drawn  from  them 
are  skilfully  combined  by  Mr.  Bogart  with  his  own  reflections, 
and  the  whole  wrought  into  a  volume,  which  when  once  com 
menced,  will  not  willingly  be  laid  down  by  the  reader,  till  it 
is  finished. 

Daniel  Boon's  grandfather,  George,  emigrated  from  Dev 
onshire  in  1717,  with  nine  sons  and  ten  daughters,  and  settled 
in  Berks  County,  Pennsylvania.  He  felt,  no  doubt,  that  the 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  475 

almost  boundless  colonial  territory  of  England  was  the  true 
place  to  bring  forward  a  family  of  nineteen  children.  lie 
took  up  wild  lands  not  only  in  the  neighborhood  of  his  settle 
ment  in  Pennsylvania,  but  in  Maryland  and  Virginia.  One 
of  his  sons  bore  the  absurd  but  common  name  of  Squire,  and 
his  son,  Daniel,  the  pioneer,  the  fourth  of  a  large  family,  was 
born  in  Bristol,  on  the  Delaware,  about  twenty  miles  from 
Philadelphia,  on  the  llth  of  February,  1735.  Three  years 
afterwards  his  father  removed  to  Reading  (Pa.,)  then  a  fron 
tier  settlement,  and  there  Daniel  grew  up  amidst  the  scenes 
of  border  life  and  the  traditions  of  Indian  warfare.  Whether 
the  family  were  of  the  Episcopal  church  or  the  Society  of 
Friends,  has  been  so  skilfully  contested,  that  Mr.  Bogart  pro 
nounces  it  "  most  difficult  to  decide  "  the  question.  Daniel, 
at  any  rate,  belonged  to  the  austere  communion  of  those  who 
love  to  worship  in  the  solemn  aisles  of  cathedral  woods  and 
at  the  trickling  fountains  of  mighty  streams.  In  boyhood  he 
left  his  father's  home,  and  built  him  a  hunting  cabin  in  the 
forest. 

One  would  have  thought  that  there  was  room  enough  in 
Pennsylvania,  at  that  time,  even  for  families  whose  sons  and 
daughters  were  counted  by  the  score.  But  it  was  the  "  Mis 
sion  "  of  the  age  to  push  onward  to  the  West.  Sydney  Smith 
says  that  it  is  the  calling  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  to  spin  and 
weave  cotton.  It  may  be  so  in  the  crowded  lanes  of  Man 
chester  and  Birmingham.  On  this  side  of  the  ocean,  its  voca 
tion  is  to  subdue  the  wilderness  and  found  States ;  to  draw 
out  the  living  threads  of  civilization  across  the  boundless 
prairie,  and  in  the  mystic  words  of  Goethe,  to  weave  the  for 
tunes  of  Empires  yet  to  be,  in  the  sounding  loom  of  the  Ages. 

Squire  Boon,  the  father  of  Daniel,  emigrated  in  1753  to 
the  mountain  region  of  North  Carolina.  This  was  the  mem 
orable  year  in  which  George  Washington,  by  three  years  the 
senior  of  Daniel  Boon,  made  his  commencement  of  active  public 
life,  in  the  arduous  journey  to  the  French  fort  of  Venango. 


476  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS. 

The  Boons  settled  on  the  Yadkin,  in  the  immediate  neigh 
borhood  of  one  of  the  most  powerful  tribes  of  Indians,  the 
Cherokees,  on  the  borders  of  the  primeval  forest.  Here 
Daniel  married  Rebecca  Bryan.  The  legend  tells  that,  mistak 
ing  her  bright  eyes  for  those  of  a  deer,  he  had  nearly  shot  her 
in  the  thicket.  Historical  accuracy  repudiates  the  romance  ; 
there  were  no  shots  exchanged  between  them  but  those  which 
darted  from  Rebecca's  eyes,  and  which  healed  their  own 
wounds.  The  first  place  of  settlement  on  the  Yadkin  did  not 
satisfy  the  instinct  wrhich  was  driving  Daniel  westward,  and 
he  moved  with  his  bride  farther  up  the  valley. 

Here,  to  all  appearance,  Boon  passed  about  sixteen  years 
in  the  rough,  healthful,  and  somewhat  perilous  life  of  the 
frontier.  Nine  of  them  were  years  of  war,  for  two  years  of 
conflict  on  the  American  frontier  were  added  to  the  Seven 
years  war  of  Europe.  Of  this  part  of  his  life  little  seems  to 
be  known,  but  passed  as  it  was  in  the  immediate  neighbor 
hood  of  the  Cherokees,  it  must  have  been,  especially  during 
the  war,  a  period  of  exposure  as  well  as  hardship.  But  both 
were  wanted  as  a  preparation  for  the  great  career  of  his  life. 

John  Findlay  or  Finley — first  of  civilized  men — had,  as 
early  as  1764,  with  a  small  party,  penetrated  through  the 
Northeastern  portion  of  Tennessee  to  the  banks  of  the  Ken 
tucky  river,  and  brought  back  glowing  accounts  of  the  beauty 
of  the  country  and  the  abundance  of  the  game.  This  touched 
a  sympathetic  chord  in  Boon's  bosom,  and  with  five  compan 
ions,  of  whom  Finley  was  one,  on  the  1st  May,  1769,  "I  re 
signed,"  says  Boon,  in  the  language  of  Filson,  "  iny  domestic 
happiness  for  a  time,  and  left  my  family  and  peaceable  habita 
tion  on  the  Yadkin  river,  in  North  Carolina,  to  wander  through 
the  wilderness  of  America,  in  quest  of  the  country  of  Ken 
tucky."  Daniel  Boon  started  in  quest  of  the  country  of  Ken 
tucky,  in  the  year  in  which  Humboldt,  Napoleon,  and  Wel 
lington  were  born.  Humboldt  died  last  year,  and  Kentucky, 
with  a  population  of  1,200,000,  is  now  sending  ten  mem- 


THE  MOUNT  VEBNON  PAPERS.  477 

bers  to  the  Congress  of  United  States,  and  boasts  her  states 
men,  orators,  and  jurists  among  the  brightest  names  of  America  ! 

There  are  no  more  delightful  pages  of  modern  history, 
than  those  in  which  Mr.  Bancroft  has  described  this  first  ex 
pedition  of  Daniel  Boon  and  his  companions.*  On  May-day 
morning,  1769,  they  started,  these  six  bold  men, — and  one  of 
them  a  hero, — to  find  Kentucky.  They  had  not  far  to  seek  ; 
it  lay  before  them,  but  the  Cumberland  mountain  rose  be 
tween  ;  and  it  was  not  till  the  7th  of  June  that  they  reached 
the  summit  of  an  eminence  on  the  Red  River,  and  looked 
down  "  wTith  pleasure  on  the  beautiful  level  of  Kentucky." 
John  Finley  knew  the  spot ;  he  had  traded  there  with  the 
Indians,  years  before.  Here  they  encamped  and  "  made  a 
shelter  to  defend  them  from  the  elements."  From  this  they 
reconnoitred  the  country  and  followed  the  chase.  "  Every 
where,"  (says  Boon,  though  unfortunately  it  is  John  Filson 
who  holds  the  pen,)  "  we  found  abundance  of  wild  beasts  of 
all  sorts,  through  this  vast  forest.  The  buffaloes  were  more 
frequent  than  I  have  seen  cattle  in  the  settlements,  browsing 
on  the  leaves  of  the  cane  or  cropping  the  herbage  on  those 
extensive  plains,  fearless,  because  ignorant,  of  the  violence  of 
man.  Sometimes  we  saw  hundreds  in  a  drove,  and  the  num 
bers  about  the  Salt  Springs  was  amazing." 

And  so  they  roved  and  hunted  through  a  long  Ken 
tucky  summer  and  autumn,  till  the  22d  of  December,  an 
eventful  day,  in  all  coming  time,  for  the  descendants  of 
the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  and  in  that  particular  year  for  Daniel 
Boon  and  his  companions.  On  the  22d  of  December,  1769, 
"  John  Stewart  and  I  had  a  pleasing  ramble,  but  fortune 
changed  the  scene,  in  the  close  of  it."  Here  John  Filson 
sews  on  a  patch  of  rather  unseasonable  rhetoric  upon  the 
homely  frieze  of  Boon's  narrative.  He  will  have  it  that  they 
"  passed  through  a  great  forest,  in  which  stood  myriads  of 

*  Bancroft's  United  States.    Vol.  VI.,  p.  298. 


478  THE  MOUNT  VEENOK  PAPKBS. 

trees,  some  gay  with  blossoms,  [22d  December,]  others  rich 
with  fruits.  Nature  was  here  a  series  of  wonders  and  a  fund 
of  delights.  Here  she  displayed  her  ingenuity  and  industry 
in  a  variety  of  flowers  and  fruits  beautifully  colored,  elegantly 
shaped,  and  charmingly  flavored,  [oh  !  John,  you  know  they 
found  nothing  richer  than  a  frost-bitten  persimmon,]  and  we 
were  diverted  with  innumerable  animals  presenting  them 
selves  perpetually  to  our  view."  And  now  for  the  catastro 
phe  so  artistically  preluded  :  "  In  the  decline  of  the  day,  near 
Kentucky  River,  as  we  ascended  the  brow  of  a  small  hill,  a 
number  of  Indians  rushed  out  of  a  thick  canebrake  upon  us 
and  made  us  prisoners.  The  time  of  our  sorrow  was  now 
arrived,  and  the  scene  fully  opened.  The  Indians  plundered 
us  of  what  we  had,  and  kept  us  in  confinement  seven  days,  treat 
ing  us  with  common  savage  usage." 

Boon  and  his  companions  with  infinite  tact  and  discretion, 
resigned  themselves  in  appearance  to  their  fate,  and  made  no 
attempt  to  escape.  Their  captors  were  thrown  off  their  guard 
by  their  seeming  indifference.  At  length,  in  the  night,  and 
while  the  Indians  slept,  they  slipped  the  cords  which  bound 
them  ;  regained  their  muskets,  and  crept  undiscovered  away. 
They  returned  to  their  old  encampment ;  it  was  broken  up, 
and  their  four  companions  gone  ; — never  to  be  heard  of  more 
on  earth.  Thus  left  alone  in  the  wilderness,  hundreds  of 
miles  from  kindred  and  friends,  their  hearts  were  soon  glad 
dened  by  the  arrival  of  Squire  Boon,  Daniel's  brother,  and  a 
nameless  companion,  who  had  come  to  join  company  with 
the  pioneers.  They  replaced  for  a  while  the  missing  four ; 
but  "  John  Stewart  was  soon  killed  by  the  savages,"  and  the 
man  who  came  with  Squire  Boon  went  home  to  the  pleasant 
banks  of  the  Yadkin.  Daniel  and  his  brother  were  left  alone, 
"  not  a  white  man  in  Kentucky  but  themselves."  Thus  situ 
ated,"  says  Boon,  "  many  hundred  miles  from  our  families, 
in  the  howling  wilderness,  I  believe  few  would  have  equally 
enjoyed  the  happiness  we  experienced.  I  often  observed  to 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPERS.  479 

my  brother,  you  see  how  little  Nature  requires  to  be  sat 
isfied  !  " 

The  season  wore  on ;  "  they  hunted  every  day,  and  pre 
pared  a  little  cottage  to  defend  them  from  the  wintry  storms." 
They  remained  undisturbed  till  the  Spring ;  and  then,  when 
the  buds  of  the  hickory  swelled  to  the  size  of  a  mouse's  ear  ; 
when  the  blue  grass  carpeted  the  native  lawns ;  when  the 
cane  shot  up  like  mammoth  asparagus ;  and  the  brooks  let 
loose  from  their  icy  chains,  and  swelled  by  April  showers, 
began  to  prattle  through  the  meadows ;  and  the  flowering 
dog-wood  whitened  the  thickets ;  and  the  chattering  magpie, 
the  robin,  and  the  red-bird,  filled  them  with  life  and  music, 
Daniel's  brother  returned  to  North  Carolina  for  supplies,  and 
the  Pioneer  remained  alone  in  Kentucky,  "  without  bread, 
salt,  or  sugar,  without  company  of  my  fellow-creatures,  with 
out  even  a  horse  or  a  dog  :  " — all  alone,  but  in  the  best  of 
company — a  good  conscience,  a  bold  heart,  and  the  Blessing 
of  Heaven. 

In  three  months  brother  Squire  returned  with  supplies ; 
they  hunted  together  another  Autumn  and  another  Winter, 
and  in  the  Spring  of  1771  went  back  to  their  families  on  the 
Yadkin,  determined,  as  soon  as  possible,  to  leave  the  older 
settlements,  and  make  a  final  remove  to  Kentucky  "  which," 
says  Boon,  "  I  esteemed  a  second  paradise." 

And  here,  though  at  the  threshold  of  his  adventures,  his 
perils,  his  toils,  and  his  achievements,  we  must  part  from  the 
noble  Pioneer.  The  tale  of  his  subsequent  migrations  ; — of 
his  establishment,  rather  say  his  encampment  in  Kentucky ; 
— his  block-house  warfare  ; — his  captivity  among  the  savages ; 
— his  escape  ; — the  fierce  Indian  wars  ; — the  growth  of  the 
settlements,  and  the  crowding  of  the  population ; — the  trials 
and  troubles  of  advancing  age  ; — his  removal  to  Missouri ; — • 
and  the  closing  scene ; — these  all  related  with  accuracy  and 
spirit  from  authentic  resources,  may  be  found  in  the  volume 
of  Mr.  Bogart. 


NUMBER  FIFTY-THREE, 

AND  THE  LAST  OF  THE  SERIES. 

THE  NEW  YOEK  LEDGEE. 

Description  of  the  Ledger  establishment—  Common  printing— The  power  press— Tho 
Electrotype  process — Press  work — Distribution  of  the  paper — Eighty  thousand 
by  mail — Eoss  &  Tousey's  news  agency — "Ledger  day"  described — Immense 
amount  of  Printing  annually  done  in  the  "  Ledger  "  office — Convention  for  inter 
national  copyright — Mode  in  which  the  establishment  has  been  built  up  and 
general  character  and  objects— The  "Unknown  Public  "—Conclusion  of  the 
Mount  Vernon  Papers. 

HAVING  occasion  lately  to  pass  a  few  days  in  New  York,  I 
availed  myself  of  tho  polite  invitation  of  the  Proprietor  and 
Editor  of  "  the  Ledger  "  to  visit  his  establishment.  As  I  had 
kept  close  company  with  "  the  Ledger  "  for  the  last  twelve 
months,  during  which,  with  a  party  of  about  a  million  of 
readers,  we  have,  besides  shorter  excursions  in  the  neigbor- 
hood,  performed  together  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  journeys 
of  twenty-four  thousand  miles  each,  and,  at  the  same  time,  one 
of  five  hundred  millions  of  miles  in  circuit,  I  felt  a  natural 
curiosity  to  examine  a  little  more  particularly  the  extent  and 
organization  of  the  concern. 

Most  of  my  readers,  I  suppose,  have  some  knowledge  of 
the  art  of  printing  as  commonly  practised.  They  understand 
that  the  letters  of  the  alphabet,  at  the  end  of  small  pieces  of 
metal  called  types,  are  arranged  for  use  in  little  square  boxes, 
on  a  slanting  desk,  and  that  a  workman  called  a  "  Composi- 


THE  MOUNT  YEKXON  PAPERS.  481 

tor,"  having  before  him  the  writing  which  is  to  be  printed, 
picks  up  these  types,  letter  by  letter,  and  places  them  in  a 
frame,  called  a  composing-stick,  till  he  has  got  a  line.  A 
second  line  is  formed  the  same  way,  and  so  on  till  he  has  set 
up  enough  for  a  page  of  a  book,  or  a  column  of  a  newspaper. 
When  pages  enough  to  form  a  sheet,  or  columns  enough  to 
form  two  sides  of  a  newspaper,  have  been  thus  set  up,  and 
secured  in  their  places  by  an  iron  frame,  they  are  put  on  a 
broad  stone,  and  are  ready  to  pass  through  the  press  to  be 
printed  on  paper,  moistened  and  applied  to  the  face  of  the 
types  for  that  purpose.  Some  attempts  have  been  made  to 
set  up  types  by  machinery,  contrived  like  the  keys  of  a  piano 
forte,  but  nothing  of  this  kind,  as  far  as  I  am  aware,  has  been 
introduced  into  newspaper  offices.  As  far  as  AVC  have  now 
gone,  and  in  this  part  of  the  work,  there  is  nothing  particular 
in  the  "  Ledger  "  printing  office.  As  one  paper  only  a  week  is 
printed,  the  force  employed  in  this  department  is,  of  course, 
less  than  in  offices  where  a  paper  is  to  be  published  every 
day.  It  may  be  remarked,  however,  that  in  addition  to  the 
persons  employed  in  setting  up  the  types,  a  considerable  num 
ber  find  constant  occupation  in  designing  and  engraving  the 
illustrations  ;  an  entirely  separate  branch  of  the  art,  for  which 
in  the  daily  journals  there  is  no  occasion. 

Thus  far,  then,  every  thing  is  done  by  hand.  At  this  stage 
of  the  work  a  piece  of  machinery  contrived  about  thirty  years 
ago,  and  a  chemical  process  of  still  more  recent  invention  are 
introduced  to  accelerate  the  printing  of  papers  of  extensive 
circulation.  The  machinery  to  which  I  allude,  is  the  power 
press ;  the  chemical  operation  is  the  process  of  elcctrotyping. 
Till  about  thirty  years  ago,  printing  presses  were  wrought 
exclusively  by  hand,  and  the  operation  was  one  requiring  great 
endurance  and  strength,  on  the  part  of  an  able-bodied  man; 
Presses  of  this  kind  have  been  superseded,  except  in  small  es 
tablishments,  by  presses  moved  by  steam,  heated  air,  or  water 
power.  These  presses  are  of  various  construction  and  efficien- 
21 


482  THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEES. 

cy  ;  the  most  celebrated  being  those  of  our  countryman  Hoe 
at  New  York,  of  which  also  there  are  different  kinds ;  some 
called  the  "  lightning  presses,"  used  in  the  offices  of  the  great 
daily  journals,  where  the  utmost  speed  is  necessary,  and 
others  of  which  the  execution  is  less  rapid,  and  which  for  that 
reason  admit  of  greater  precision  and  finish  in  the  work.  The 
"  Ledger  "  is  printed  on  presses  of  this  description,  of  which 
ten  are  kept  constantly  at  work  twenty -three  hours  out  of  the 
twenty-four,  in  printing  each  number  of  the  "  Ledger."  In 
other  words,  so  large  is  the  number  of  the  weekly  issue,  that 
it  becomes  necessary  to  print  at  the  same  time  five  editions 
of  the  paper. 

And  how  are  these  five  editions  got  ready  for  the  press  1 
Are  the  types  set  up  that  number  of  times  1  Such  would 
have  been  the  case  some  years  ago,  if  papers  of  such  vast  cir 
culation  had  existed,  but  by  the  process  of  electrotyping  this 
labor  is  saved.  This  is  a  process,  by  which  an  exact  copy  of 
the  page  of  types  can  be  taken  in  copper,  that  being  the  metal 
used  by  printers  ;  though  silver  and  gold  are  electrotyped  in 
the  fine  arts,  for  expensive  works  of  taste  and  luxury.  In 
electrotyping  for  the  printing  office,  an  impression  in  wax  is 
taken  of  the  page  of  types,  which  is  to  be  multiplied.  This 
waxen  plate  is  immersed  for  twelve  hours  in  a  solution  of  cop 
per  in  a  galvanic  trough.  At  the  end  of  this  time,  the  face  of  the 
waxen  page  is  covered  with  a  thin  coating  of  copper.  The 
wax  is  then  removed  by  hot  water,  and  melted  type  metal 
poured  upon  the  copper  net  work.  The  back  of  the  type 
metal  is  then  smoothed  off,  and  the  electrotype  plate  is  ready 
for  use.  This  operation  is  repeated  as  many  times  as  is  re 
quired  to  furnish  plates  for  all  the  presses ;  and  as  many 
persons  are  employed  in  electrotyping  as  in  setting  the  types. 
From  this  statement  the  reader  perceives,  that  every  page  of 
"  the  Ledger,"  to  which  he  looks  for  his  weekly  comfort  and 
delight,  has,  between  the  pen  of  the  writer  and  the  eye  of  the 
reader,  passed  through  four  states,  and  existed  in  four  different 


THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS.  483 

forms  and  substances,  viz. :  the  first  setting  in  type,  the  waxen 
impression,  the  electrotyped  copper  and  the  printed  paper. 
How  much  science,  art,  and  mechanical  dexterity  are  devel 
oped  in  these  several  operations  ! 

Now,  gentle  reader,  if  you  will  take  your  Ledger,  before 
it  is  cut,  and  unfold  it,  you  will  find  that  it  is  printed  on  one 
large  sheet,  and  that  pages  1,  4,  5,  and  8  are  on  one  side  of 
the  sheet,  and  pages  2,  3,  6,  and  7  on  the  other.  This  you 
will  think  an  odd  arrangement ;  but  when  the  sheet  is  folded 
you  see  it  comes  right,  and  the  pages  follow  in  proper  order. 
These  eight  pages  are  made  up  for  the  Press  in  two  "  forms," 
of  four  pages  each,  which  are  separately  printed,  so  that  each 
sheet  has  to  pass  through  the  press  twice.  Great  care  is  re 
quired  in  printing  the  second  side  of  the  paper,  to  lay  the 
sheet  in  the  right  place,  so  that  the  two  sides  of  the  paper 
shall  exactly  match.  In  the  "  lightning  presses,"  in  conse 
quence  of  the  rapidity  with  which  they  are  worked,  this  point, 
which  is  of  great  importance,  if  the  papers  are  to  be  bound 
in  a  volume,  is  apt  to  be  neglected.  But  I  never  saw  "  bad 
register,"  as  this  defect  is  called,  in  a  sheet  of  the  "  Ledger." 
When  the  electrotype  plates  are  ready,  those  of  pages  1,  4,  5, 
and  8  are  placed  together  ("  locked  up  ")  in  one  form,  and 
pages  2,  3,  6,  and  7  in  another,  and  they  are  now  ready  to  be 
put  to  press. 

It  would  be  in  vain  to  attempt  to  describe  a  power  press. 
In  order  to  understand  its  construction  and  operation,  you 
must  go  and  see  it.  According  to  their  construction,  they 
throw  off  from  500  to  20,000  sheets  in  one  hour.  Mr.  Bonner 
has  eight  power  presses  constantly  at  work,  and  about  forty- 
five  persons  are  employed  in  his  press-room,  whose  aggregate 
wages  are  four  hundred  dollars  per  week.  Besides  this,  he 
pays  about  two  hundred  dollars  per  week  for  printing,  which 
he  is  unable  to  do  on  his  own  presses.  A  good  deal  of  this 
outside  work  is  in  printing  back  numbers  of  the  "  Ledger  ;  " 


484  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPEES. 

for  it  is  perhaps  peculiar  to  this  journal  that  there  is  a  large 
and  steady  demand  for  back  numbers. 

When  both  sides  of  the  paper  have  passed  through  the 
press,  that  Number  of  the  "  Ledger  "  is  printed.  To  bring 
about  this  result,  it  has  required  from,  eight  to  nine  hundred 
reams  of  paper  every  week,  at  a  cost  probably  of  six  and  a 
half  dollars  per  ream,  for  you  observe  "  the  Ledger :'  is 
printed  on  very  handsome  paper.  If  six  and  a  half  dollars  a 
ream  be  assumed  as  the  average  cost  of  the  paper,  the  amount 
for  eight  hundred  and  fifty  reams  per  week  will  not  fall  much 
short  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  per  annum. 

The  journal  thus  printed,  to  the  number  of  about  Four 
Hundred  Thousand  copies,  is  to  be  distributed  about  the 
Union.  How  is  this  effected?  The  main  supply  of  the 
country  is  through  the  medium  of  news-agents,  and  large 
dealers,  in  all  the  principal  cities,  towns,  and  considerable 
villages  of  the  United  States.  These  receive  the  paper  from. 
New  York  in  large  packages,  as  will  presently  be  stated,  and 
furnish  it  in  detail  to  their  customers.  But  beyond  the  reach 
of  the  news-agents,  there  are  a  multitude  of  persons,  readers 
of  the  tl  Ledger,"  scattered  over  the  country  ;  who,  not  having 
any  wholesale  dealer  in  their  neighbourhood,  address  them 
selves  by  letter  to  the  proprietor  in  New  York,  and  receive 
their  papers  by  mail.  About  twenty-five  clerks  and  folders 
are  employed  in  the  office  in  Ann  Street  in  folding  and  mail 
ing  papers  for  this  class  of  subscribers,  to  the  number  of 
Eighty  thousand ! 

But  the  principal  distribution  of  the  paper  takes  place  at 
the  news  agency  of  Messrs.  Ross  &  Touscy  in  Nassau  Street, 
who  purchase  weekly  of  the  Proprietor  above  Three  Hundred 
Thousand  of  the  paper,  which  they  furnish  to  all  parts  of  the 
country  in  large  parcels,  by  Express  and  Mail,  to  the  wholesale 
dealers  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  in  every  part  of  the 
Union,  and  to  the  news-venders  for  the  retail  circulation  of  the 
city  and  neighborhood.  Messrs.  Ross  &  Tousev  deal  cxtcn- 


THE  MOUNT  VEENON  PAPEKS.  485 

sively  in  Periodicals  and  weekly  journals.  They  distribute 
from  their  office  eight  hundred  thousand  papers  weekly,  the 
"  Ledger  "  forming  nearly  one-half  of  their  business,  which  with 
in  four  or  five  years  has  risen  from  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  thousand  dollars  to  one  million  dollars'  worth  annually, 
principally  of  periodicals  and  literary  Papers. 

Their  office  and  the  streets  on  which  it  stands,  Nassau 
street  in  the  front  and  Theatre  alley  in  the  rear,  exhibit  on 
"  Ledger-day," — Monday  of  each  week, — a  most  extraordinary 
scene.  Every  square  foot  of  open  space  in  the  office  has  been 
filled  up  with  piles  of  the  "  Ledger," — fifty  copies  in  a  pile. 
Large  bundles,  some  of  them  containing  a  couple  of  hundred, 
have  been  put  up  in  wrapping  paper,  addressed  to  wholesale 
dealers,  and  to  be  despatched  by  Mail  and  Express  all  over 
the  country.  These  are  placed  for  momentary  deposit,  in  a 
basement  room  in  the  rear  of  Messrs.  Ross  &  Tousey's 
premises.  The  rest  of  the  mighty  edition,  laid  in  piles,  fills 
the  counters  and  shelves  in  the  central  and  front  portions  of 
the  office,  the  counting-room,  and  the  basement,  wherever  there 
is  room  for  a  pile  of  the  paper. 

Twelve  o'clock  on  Monday  is  the  appointed  hour.  As  it 
approaches,  carts  and  drays  assemble  in  Nassau  street  and 
Theatre  alley  to  receive  the  larger  parcels  ;  the  front  of  the 
office  is  filled  with  clamorous  newsboys,  crowding  the  space 
around  the  counter  three  deep,  eager  to  get  their  supply  for 
the  streets,  the  Railway  Stations,  and  the  Steamers,  while  the 
draymen  and  porters,  in  quest  of  the  larger  parcels,  gather 
in  the  rear.  The  entire  force  of  Messrs.  Ross  &  Tousey  is 
put  in  requisition  to  wait  upon  the  newsboys.  In  the  rear 
the  clerks,  porters,  and  draymen  are  allowed  to  come  in  and 
help  themselves.  At  the  last  stroke  of  twelve  upon  the  clock, 
the  rush  begins  and  the  scene  is,  for  a  short  time,  one  of  great 
activity  and  bustle.  These  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Ledg 
ers  are  seen  moving  off  on  the  shoulders  of  porters,  and  in  the 
hands  of  newsboys,  in  drays  and  carts,  in  every  direction  ; 


486  HIE  MOUNT  VKKXON  PAPERS. 

but  twenty  minutes  is  enough  for  the  work,  and  by  that  time 
the  throng  is  dispersed,  and  the  ubiquitous  journal  is  on  its 
way  to  the  remotest  corners  of  the  land. 

This  strange  scene  is  not  confined  to  the  premises  of 
Messrs.  Ross  &  Tousey.  The  persons  mentioned  as  assem 
bling  in  the  rear  of  their  warehouse  are  the  clerks  and  salesmen 
of  other  wholesale  news-agents  who  come  to  get  a  supply  for 
their  customers  ;  often  a  very  large  one.  The  House  of 
Dexter  &  Company  take  thirty-three  thousand,  and  that  of 
Hendrickson  &  Co.,  nineteen  thousand.  The  larger  part  of 
this  supply  is  for  country  custom,  the  residue  for  the  city. 
There  are  seven  or  eight  of  these  large  dealers  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  and  in  their  offices  on  "  Ledger-day,"  the  same 
crowd  of  newsboys  takes  place,  a  half  an  hour  later,  as  that 
which  we  have  just  witnessed  in  the  front  part  of  Messrs. 
Ross  &  Tousey's  establishment. 

Perhaps,  reader,  you  were  not  before  aware  of  the  extent 
of  the  system  to  which  you  are  indebted  for  the  punctual  and 
nearly  simultaneous  supply  of  the  "  Ledger  "  throughout  the 
country,  and  to  which  you  owe  so  much  of  your  weekly  amuse 
ment  and  instruction.  You  have  not  probably  reflected,  that 
hundreds,  perhaps  it  would  not  be  an  exaggeration  to  say 
thousands,  of  persons  are  directly  or  indirectly  employed 
and  supported,  in  order  to  bring  you  tiro  welcome  sheet,  at 
the  appointed  hour,  to  your  door.  There  are,  on  the  lowest 
calculation,  above  three  thousand  shops,  depots,  and  news 
stands,  in  the  United  States  for  the  sale  of  newspapers  and 
periodicals.  As  each  copy  of  "  the  Ledger  "  for  one  year 
forms  a  folio  volume  of  four  hundred  and  sixteen  pages,  the 
quantity  of  printing  annually  executed  on  Mr.  Bonner's 
presses,  (without  taking  the  reprint  of  back  numbers  into  the 
account,)  is  of  course  four  hundred  thousand  folio  volumes  of 
that  thickness ;  being  about  four  times,  I  suppose,  the  number 
of  the  volumes  in  that  noble  library,  which  forms  such  an  im 
perishable  monument  to  the  name  of  ASTOR.  If,  as  is  prob- 


THE  MOUNT  YEKNON  PAPERS.  487 

ably  the  case,  not  more  than  a  fourth  part  of  the  volumes  in 
that  magnificent  collection  are  folios,  and  the  other  three- 
fourths  volumes  of  a  smaller  size, — quartos,  octavos,  and 
duodecimos, — then  the  quantity  of  printing  done  in  the 
"  Ledger,"  office  in  the  course  of  a  single  year,  being  equiva 
lent  to  sixteen  hundred  thousand  octavo  volumes,  will  exceed 
ten  or  twelve  times  the  amount  of  printing  contained  in  the 
books  of  the  Astor  Library.  As  very  many  of  the  papers 
are  taken  by  reading  clubs,  consisting  of  several  persons,  and 
the  "  Ledger,"  is  eminently  a  paper  for  Family  use,  it  docs 
not  seem  extravagant  to  assume,  that  each  paper  is  on  an 
average  habitually  read  by  four  individuals ;  and  conse 
quently,  that  the  whole  issue  is  read  by  twelve  or  fifteen 
hundred  thousand  persons  ! 

When  a  convention  for  international  copyright  between 
this  country  and  Great  Britain  was  negotiated  a  few  years 
ago,  while  I  was  in  the  Department  of  State,  a  great  alarm 
was  raised  against  it,  as  if  it  was  going  almost  to  put  an  end 
to  the  printing  business  in  the  United  States.  Petitions 
against  its  confirmation  poured  into  the  Senate,  signed  not 
merely  by  publishers  engaged  in  reprinting  English  \vorks, 
but  by  type-founders,  paper  makers,  and  every  other  class 
of  persons  however  remotely  connected  with  the  art  of  print 
ing.  Now  not  to  mention  that  the  Convention  did  not  apply 
to  the  great  mass  of  Standard  English  literature,  but  only  to 
a  few  modern  copyrighted  works,  I  satisfied  myself  that  any 
one  of  the  great  New  York  Dailies, — and  as  we  have  seen 
the  same  is  true  of  the  New  York  "  Ledger," — gives  a  greater 
amount  of  employment  to  all  the  trades  and  handicrafts  con 
nected  with  printing,  (with  the  exception  of  book-binding,)  than 
is  given  by  the  entire  reprint  of  English  copy-righted  publica 
tions  ;  for  no  one,  I  presume,  would  think  of  rating  it  as  high 
as  sixteen  hundred  thousand  octavo  volumes  annually. 

But  to  return  to  the  New  York  "  Ledger,"  this  vast  con- 


488  THE  MOUNT  TEKNON  PAPEES. 

s 

cern  has  been  built  up,  within  a  very  few  years,  by  the  untir 
ing  industry,  tact,  energy,  and  good  sense  of  one  self-made 
man,  entering  upon  the  business  with  no  advantages  of  edu 
cation  but  those  of  a  common  school,  without  capital,  without 
powerful  friends,  and  without  resorting  to  the  ordinary 
means  of  gaining  public  favor  and  securing  lucrative  patronage. 
The  "  Ledger,"  has  not  been  the  mouth-piece  of  any  party, 
religious,  political,  or  sectional ;  it  has  not  been  a  wews-papcr^ 
nor  a  commercial  paper ;  it  has  not  inserted  advertisements, 
nor  reported  Buncombe  speeches;  it  has  retained  no  "cor 
respondent,"  in  other  cities  to  transmit  to  New  York  libels, 
that  would  be  rejected  with  scorn  by  all  decent  journals  in 
the  places  where  they  are  written  ;  and  has  admitted  no  police 
reports,  personal  scandal,  or  pungent  criticisms,  as  they  are 
called,  on  the  literature  of  the  day.  It  has  simply  aimed  to 
be  an  entertaining  and  instructive  Family  newspaper,  designed, 
in  the  first  instance,  to  meet  the  wants  of  what  is  called,  in  a 
very  sensible  and  striking  paper  in  Dickens'  Household 
Words,  for  the  21st  of  August,  1858,  the  "  Unknown  Public." 
The  New  York  "  Ledger,"  is  the  first  attempt  in  this  country, 
on  a  large  scale,  to  address  that  public ;  and  the  brilliant  suc 
cess,  which  has  attended  it  thus  far,  is  a  strong  confirmation 
of  the  truth  of  the  closing  observation  in  the  remarkable 
article  alluded  to,  that  the  time  is  coming  when  "  the  readers, 
who  rank  by  millions,  will  be  the  readers  who  give  the  widest 
reputations,  who  return  the  richest  rewards,  and  who  wrill 
therefore  command  the  services  of  the  best  writers  of  the 
time."  The  author  of  the  article  in  question,  probably  Mr. 
Dickens  himself,  adds,  "  to  the  penny  journals  of  the  present 
times  belongs  the  credit  of  having  discovered  '  a  new  Public.'1 " 
To  that  credit  in  this  country,  the  Editor  and  Proprietor  of 
the  New  York  "  Ledger  "  is  richly  entitled.  Not  only  so, 
but  he  has  taken  a  step — and  that  a  very  important  one — be 
yond  the  papers  published  for  the  "  Unknown  Public "  in 


Til  10    MOUNT    VERNON    PAPERS.  48(J 

England.  Without  at  all  neglecting  the  claims  of  the  masses 
of  the  community,  he  is  steadily  adapting  the  "  Ledger  "  to 
the  tastes  of  a  more  critical  and  fastidious  class  of  readers. 
It  may  be  mentioned  as  the  most  extraordinary,  the  most 
creditable,  and  as  an  example  to  others,  the  most  salutary 
feature  of  Mr.  Bonner's  course,  that  in  the  entire  progress  of 
this  great  enterprize  and  in  its  present  management,  he  has 
never  signed  nor  endorsed  a  note  of  hand,  nor  borrowed  a 
dollar ;  and  that  in  every  part  of  his  immense  establishment 
SUNDAY  is  A  DAY  OF  REST.  I  think  it  due  to  him,  in  closing 
this  account  of  his  operations,  to  say,  that  it  has  not  been 
drawn  up  by  me  at  his  request  or  suggestion  ;  and  that  his 
first  knowledge  that  I  had  any  thought  of  preparing  it  was 
derived  from  my  letter  of  inquiry,  asking  information  as  to 
some  facts  known  only  to  himself. 


In  bringing  the  series  of  the  "  Mount  Vernon  Papers"  to 
a  close,  as  I  do  with  the  present  Number,  I  beg  leave  to  return 
my  thanks  to  the  readers  of  the  "  Ledger/'  for  the  favor  with 
which  they  have  been  received.  I  cannot  deny  that  I  entered 
into  the  engagement  to  write  them,  with  great  misgivings.  I 
recoiled  from  the  task  of  furnishing  a  weekly  paper  (to  be 
read  by  a  million  of  my  countrymen),  amidst  incessant  inter 
ruptions  of  every  kind,  under  the  pressure  of  other  onerous 
duties,  of  a  heavy  correspondence,  of  public  engagements 
requiring  frequent  journeys,  a  part  of  the  time  with  indifferent 
health,  and  in  other  circumstances,  which  wholly  unfit  the 
mind  for  cheerful  exertion.  But  I  could  not  resist  the  tempta 
tion  to  add  the  great  sum  of  Ten  Thousand  Dollars,  so  libe 
rally  offered  by  Mr.  Bonner,  to  the  Mount  Vernon  Fund  ; 
and  the  favor  of  the  multitudinous  readers  of  the  "  Ledger," 
21* 


490  THE  MOUNT  VEKNON  PAPERS. 

of  which  I  have  received  the  most  gratifying  assurances  from 
all  parts  of  the  country,  has  long  since  relieved  my  anxiety, 
and  turned  the  task  into  a  relaxation  and  a  pleasure.  Though 
not  sorry  to  be  released  from  the  responsibility  of  a  weekly 
contribution,  I  cannot  say  that  I  terminate  the  series  of  the 
"  Mount  Vernon  Papers  "  without  regret,  and  I  shall  gladly 
avail  myself  of  the  opportunity,  which  Mr.  Bonner's  invita 
tion  affords  me,  of  occasionally  renewing  my  communications 
with  the  readers  of  the  "  Ledger." 

EXITUS  ACTA  PROBAT. 


APPENDIX  TO  PAGE  10. 

IN  pursuance  of  the  suggestion  at  the  close  of  the  first  Number 
of  the  foregoing  series,  many  contributions  to  the  fund  for  the 
purchase  of  Mount  Vernon  were  remitted  to  the  subscriber,  to  the 
amount  in  the  whole  of  TIIEEE  THOUSAND  NINE  HUNDEED  AND  ONE 
DOLLAES.  Of  this  amount,  five  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars 
were  in  sums  of  one  dollar,  and  less  ;  the  residue  in  larger  amounts, 
among  which  was  the  generous  donation  of  five  hundred  dollars, 
from  Messrs.  Pettengill  &  Co.,  of  New  York.  The  first  subscription 
received  was  one  of  ten  dollars,  from  Mr.  N.  D.  Sawin,  of  Cam 
bridge  (Mass.),  which  was  sent  in  a  few  moments  after  the  NEW 
YOEK  LEDGER,  containing  the  first  Number  of  the  Mount  Vernon 
Papers,  was  published  in  Boston.  Very  liberal  donations  were 
received  from  several  Military  Companies,  Masonic  and  Odd  Fel 
lows'  Lodges,  Engine  and  Hook  and  Ladder  Companies,  and  Schools. 
To  each  person,  whose  name  was  transmitted  as  a  contributor,  a 
receipt,  handsomely  engraved,  and  signed  by  the  President  and 
Treasurer  of  the  Auxiliary  Mount  Vernon  Fund,  was  returned. 
A  complete  list  of  all  the  donations  of  one  dollar  and  upward,  with 
the  names  of  each  contributor,  is  in  preparation,  to  be  furnished 
for  publication  in  the  Mount  Vernon  Record ;  every  person  con 
tributing  to  the  fund  not  less  than  a  dollar,  being  constitutionally 
a  member  of  the  "Ladies'  Mount  Vernon  Association  for  the 
Union." 

The  subscriber  will  still  be  happy  to  receive  contributions  to  the 
Mount  Vernon  Fund.  Although  the  amount  necessary  to  effect 
the  purchase  of  the  estate  has  been  raised,  a  large  sum  is  still 
needed  for  repairs,  and  for  the  restoration  of  the  house  and  grounds, 
as  far  as  practicable,  to  their  condition  in  1800,  as  well  as  to  form 
a  fund  for  their  future  preservation  and  care. 

EDWARD   EVERETT. 

BOSTON,  May,  1860. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

RENEWALS  ONLY — TEL.  NO.  642-3405 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


m 


Mil  <    '69 


RECEIVED 


REC'OLD   WG  3  |T  '79  T1 


NRLF  LI8RA1 


^  5 


LD2lA-60m-6,'69 
(J9096slO)476-A-32 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


